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Publications
The WSP team has published four major research reports
since 2003. The first two reports, Flushing
the Future? (2003) and What the Experts
Think (2003), laid out the examination and diagnosis of Canada’s
ailing water management system, and The Future
in Every Drop (2004) provided the prescription in the form
of action plans for all levels of government. The last report in
the series, At a Watershed (2005), builds
on the action plans and goes beyond the urban environment, addressing
specific issues of governance -- describing the enabling environment
that can foster long-term and comprehensive water management where
ecosystem health and social sustainability take the primary role.
In addition to research reports, the WSP team has
authored research-based publications such as The
Soft Path for Water in a Nutshell, Thinking Beyond Pipes and Pumps
and a number of discussion papers
and articles that have been
published and/or presented at conferences and workshops since 2003.
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A New Path to Water Sustainability for the Town of Oliver, BC - Soft Path Case Study (February 2007)
This case study is a “real world” application of the soft path concept for the Town of Oliver in the Okanagan Basin, British
Columbia written by Oliver M Brandes, Tony Maas, Adam Mjolsness & Ellen Reynolds.
Full Report - PDF - 650KB |
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Urban Water Soft Path: 'Back of the Envelope' Backcasting Framework (February 2007)
The Urban Water Soft Path “Back of the Envelope” Backcasting Framework
(BEBF) compares various possible scenarios of future water use at the community scale (i.e.
municipality or region). Written by Oliver M Brandes & Tony Maas.
Full Report - PDF - 725KB |
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Thinking Beyond Pipes and Pumps: Top 10 Ways Communities Can
Save Water and Money (October 2006).
Based on three years of research, this report by Oliver M
Brandes, Tony Maas and Ellen Reynolds seeks to inspire and
facilitate action. It is a practical resource designed for
community leaders, water managers and policy makers. See media
release. Also available in French under the title: Au-delà des tuyaux et des pompes.
Full
Report - English (PDF for on-line viewing - 7 MB)
Full
Report - English (PDF for printing - 12 MB)
La version française - (7 MB) or (12 MB)
Summary
Brochure (PDF)
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The Soft Path for Water
in a Nutshell
NEW EDITION with research results (September 2007).
Oliver M Brandes of the POLIS Project on Ecological Governance
and David B Brooks of Friends of the Earth Canada teamed up
to produce this 20-page practical guide to soft path water
planning – an innovative approach to developing water
sustainability in Canada. Originally published in November
2005 and was revised in May 2006 and in September 2007 to include the research results. See Media
Release.
20-page
Booklet (PDF) - (2M)
20-page Booklet (PDF) - (11M)
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Report 4: At a Watershed:
Ecological Governance and Sustainable Water Management in
Canada (May 2005). At a Watershed
goes beyond the urban environment, addressing specific
issues of governance. In particular, the report seeks to create
an "enabling" environment within which the action
plans and recommendations presented in previous reports can
be fully implemented.
Full
Report (PDF) Executive
Summary (PDF) |
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Report 3: The Future
in Every Drop: The Benefits, Barriers and Practice of Urban
Water Demand Management in Canada (May 2004).
The Future in Every Drop describes
why a comprehensive and long-term approach to demand management
is necessary and provides action plans for all levels of government
and other stakeholders for implementation.
Full
Report (PDF) Summary
Report (PDF) |
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Report 2: What the Experts Think:
Understanding Urban Water Demand Management in Canada
(December 2003)
What the Experts Think
draws on interviews with Canadian experts in the field of
water resource management and initiates a national network
of water demand management practitioners.
Report
(PDF)
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Report 1: Flushing the
Future? Examining Urban Water Use in Canada (August
2003)
Flushing the Future? surveys the
state of water use in select major Canadian Cities and lays
the foundation for our examination of legal and institutional
reform.
Report
(PDF) |
Discussion
Papers back to top>>
The POLIS Water Sustainability Project team has written
and presented a number of discussion papers, academic articles and
briefing notes. A few of the highlights include:
What
we govern and what governs us: Developing sustainability in Canadian
water management, a working paper co-written by Oliver
M. Brandes and Tony Maas, first presented at the Canadian Water
Resources Association 59th Annual Conference in in Toronto, Ontario,
June 4-7, 2006.
Changing
Perspectives - Changing Paradigms: Demand management strategies
and innovative solutions for a sustainable Okanagan water future,
co-written and presented by Oliver M. Brandes and Lynn Kriwoken
of BC's Ministry of Water Land and Air Protection at the CWRA conference
"Water - Our Limiting Resource" in Kelowna, BC in February
23-25, 2005.
Review of the Draft Annex
2001 Implementing Agreements to the Great Lakes Compact.
The POLIS Project and Friends of the Earth Canada were invited by
the Gordon Foundation along with three other experts to review drafts
of the Implementing Agreements for Annex 2001
and make recommendations to the Council of Great Lakes Governors
in September, 2004. The review is co-authored by David Brooks (FOE
Canada) and Tony Maas with Oliver M. Brandes (WSP Project).
Developing
Water Sustainability Through Urban Water Demand Management: A Provincial
Perspective, a briefing paper presented at a workshop
for BC's Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection on July 20,
2004. The WSP team presented POLIS' proposed action plans for the
provincial government to implement urban water demand management.
Developing
Water Sustainability Through Urban Water Demand Management,
a backgrounder for Environment Canada co-written by Oliver M. Brandes
and Tony Maas in March 2004. This background paper provides viable
action plans with federal leadership for a comprehensive and long-term
approach to freshwater management in Canada.
Federal
Fiscal Policies to Link Infrastructure Funds to Water Demand Management
Programs, a joint submission
briefing note presented to the Prime Minister's Office by the POLIS
Project and Friends of the Earth Canada on March 16, 2004 in anticipation
of the federal budget.
Additional
publications back to
top>>
Conservation, innovation best sources of 'new' water Opinion piece by Oliver M. Brandes, Times Colonist September 7, 2007.
The August 2007 edition of Alternatives is now available, highlighting POLIS's soft path work with Friends of the Earth Canada. Purchasing information available on the web site.
"Water Issue Urgent," co-written by Oliver M. Brandes and Tim Morris (Sierra Club of Canada), Toronto Star, May 19, 2007.
"A new view of water Security: Thinking Beyond
Pipes and Pumps," by Oliver M Brandes, Tony Maas and Ellen
Reynolds. Municipal
World, March 2007.
"Changing Perspectives –
Changing Paradigms: Taking the ‘soft path’ to water
sustainability in the Okanagan Basin,” by Oliver M.
Brandes and Lynn Kriwoken, Canadian
Water Resources Journal, Volume 31(2): 75-90, 2006. [Abstract]
The WSP team contributed to the Foundation Research
Bulletin on Water Conservation for the Town of Oliver,
BC in April 2006. Available at the Smart
Growth on the Ground Web site.
“Moving Water Conservation to Centre Stage”
by Oliver M Brandes, David Brooks and Michael M’Gonigle in
Eau
Canada: The Future of Canada’s Water, Vancouver:
UBC Press, 2006.
"Corporate
Knights - Waterlution Survey: Urban Waters" by Karen Kun
and Tony Maas, Corporate Knights Magazine,
Special Water Issue 2005 (See the CK
Web site for the entire issue).
“Trickle-Up:
Demand-Side Water Economics,” by Oliver M. Brandes,
Corporate Knights Magazine (See the
CK
Web site for the entire issue), October 2004.
“Planning
for Uncertainty,” by Oliver M. Brandes and Tony
Maas, Municipal World Magazine, July
2004.
“Governments
Must Implement Water DSM" by Oliver M. Brandes and
Ellen Reynolds, Environment Policy & Law
Journal, Vol 15, No 8, November 2004, p.669.
"The
Soft Path for Water: A Social Approach to the Physical Problem of
Achieving Sustainable Water Management" by Oliver
M Brandes and David B Brooks, HORIZONS
Vol 9 No1, pp 71-74, 2006.
“Fit
to Drink and that’s a problem!” by Oliver
M. Brandes and Michael M'Gonigle, FresH2Outlook,
Issue 15, May 2003, p.10.
“Politics,
Platitudes, and Privatization the three Ps of the World Water Forum,”
by Oliver Brandes, FresH2Outlook, Issue
15, May 2003 p.15.
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