Monday July 14, 2025 | VANCOUVER, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Today the Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, Randene Neill, led an update about drought and water scarcity.
There were several messages within the update:
- Reporting only on drought can be misleading and doesn’t significantly contribute to people changing their water-use behaviours.
- BC is shifting to a standardized drought and water scarcity reporting system that is used beyond BC and Canada.
- Households and communities should continue to or even increase their water conservation efforts.
Drought updates in recent years:
Over the past few years people in BC have become accustomed to hearing drought updates for the past five years or so. Interpretation of why that is of concern has not been well conveyed.
In communities where water supply is well managed (e.g. in the Capital Regional District on south Vancouver Island) the impact of drought has not really been directly felt.
While local governments and households are probably paying attention to attentive and responsible use of water (due to conservation education over decades), the impact of continuing year-to-year drought levels has not translated into people saving more water than they already have been.
Mixed messaging:
Today’s announcement seemed to be delivering mixed messaging… implying that drought and water scarcity are important but meanwhile not really setting a tone of escalating concern.
But delineating the difference between drought and water scarcity is probably a good starting point for future public education.
Drought levels:
Drought levels measure the severity of dryness and are updated weekly on the B.C. Drought Information Portal.
In BC, the average person uses 286 litres of water a day, 63 litres more than the Canadian average (Statistics Canada, 2021).
Water scarcity:
Water scarcity is when an insufficient amount of water impacts industrial or community operations, food supply production, or functionality or well-being of households.
Non-urgent conservation messaging:
It’s likely that few people will be motivated to change their water behaviours as a result of today’s press conference, despite how much that media report on it.
That’s because leadership starts at the top, and presently the government is taking a timid approach to pressuring people to more carefully respect water as a precious resource.
Minister Neill mentioned the need for voluntary water conservation by households, communities and industry.
Nearly everyone knows they should conserve water due to reminders about that over at least the past 20 years. There seemed to be no urgency in today’s delivered announcement to encourage anything further, though the news release was more forceful.
Government news release:
The media release after the announcement sounded more alarmist: People, businesses urged to conserve water as drought risks increase.
“Saving water and responding to drought is a shared responsibility, and we know that early action can make a big difference, especially when we work together,” Neill was quoted.
Suggestions for water conservation are decades old, not much has changed. In other words, use less water:
- Water lawns less often, switch to drought-tolerant foliage
- Sweep driveways and patios instead of washing.
- Don’t run the tap when brushing teeth or washing dishes.
- Maintain plumbing if it’s leaking.
Meanwhile, the Provinces “continues to monitor stream and weather conditions and their potential impacts to aquatic ecosystems and fish populations”, the July 14, 2025 Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship news release stated.
Some explanations about measuring water scarcity:
If there was any one key message from today’s announcement it’s that BC now sets out to do better with measuring water scarcity.
Socioeconomic and practical considerations that come during water scarcity will now be possibly explained in more complex analysis.
There could be measurement and assessment of impacts on drinking water supply, ecological health or fish population survival, or food production and security.
But today’s messaging was vague and scattered. It was delivered as an advisory, a statement of what a government department is trying to do as it sets on a new course. It seemed like ‘inside baseball’… important, but not focussed on the public audience.
Today’s ‘event’ held at the Vancouver Cabinet Office really didn’t meet the measure of a media announcement. A lot has been left to media to sort out the multiple messages in today’s delivery, even though usually the government takes a lead role nowadays in churning out detailed announcements and backgrounders.
Media livestream:
Minister Neill was joined for the July 14 update by Connie Chapman, Executive Director, Water Management Branch and Cliff Chapman with the BC Wildfire Service. See Drought & Water Scarcity July 14, 2025 livestream.
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NEWS SECTIONS: ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY