One Water - One Region

CVRD Drinking Water and Watershed Protection Program

The Drinking Water and Watershed Protection (DWWP) program is a regional service tasked with helping to protect the region’s water resources.

The One Water One Region strategy sets out the programs, goal, objectives, program areas, priority actions and guiding principles for delivery.

One Goal

Healthy watersheds and aquifers
- recognizing that our personal wellbeing, our communities, our ecosystems and our water resources are all interconnected.

This goal recognizes the linkages between human needs and the needs of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. It also sees groundwater and surface as one, interconnected whole – One Water.

Six Objectives

• Safe source water for domestic supply;
• Resilient watersheds, aquifers and aquatic ecosystems;
• Protection of social and cultural values and enjoyment of recreational amenities and services derived from our watersheds;
• Preparedness for climate change effects on the region’s water resources;
• Strong partnerships working together to ensure healthy watersheds; and,
• Efficient use of water.

Three Program Areas

Learn - Watershed Science and Information – Collect existing and new information, analyze to create new knowledge and science; create useful tools, analysis and supporting materials and products such as maps, reports and online information systems.

Act - Watercentric Planning – Use science and knowledge to inform policy, land use decisions, and operational activities that affect drinking water and watersheds.

Share and Collaborate - Watershed Stewardship and Outreach – Work directly with the public and organizations to help residents understand the benefits of water stewardship and how they can contribute.

Fourteen Priority Action Areas

Improve climate and water monitoring networks
Improve data management systems
Characterize surface and groundwater quantity
Characterize surface and groundwater quality
Assess ecological health
Develop water budgets and other products
Update risk assessments
Ensure stable long term monitoring and reporting
Develop and inform policy frameworks
Inform planning decision making
Inform operational decision making
Education and communication
Support strategic partnerships
Support watershed restoration

Four Guiding Principles

Partnership based – we will achieve better results if we work with other organizations and local community groups committed to watershed stewardship and protection.

Action oriented – Program Areas identified in the Strategy focus on informing and improving future policy, planning and operational decisions specific to drinking water and watershed protection.

Adaptive management and continuous improvement – Program Areas and initiatives may be revised and adapted in response to new information and changing conditions (e.g., climate change).

Performance standards – the Program will adhere to strict performance requirements in the design, execution and reporting of the work to ensure consistency and that quality standards are met, especially those related to water science and information acquisition.

Read the summary 10 year DWWP Strategy here.

Read the full 10 year DWWP Strategy here.

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