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SUCCESS STORIES

Find the details and related links for more information on all of the points for our website's map of Canada Water Action! If you have a success story you would like to be shared on the map, please submit your request via a short form by clicking the button below.

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Water Movement
Water Movement

APPLICABLE SDGs:

  • SDG 6.1 - Drinking Water

Water Movement (WM), founded by Indigenous operators, is a leader in addressing Canada's water crisis. It empowers individuals involved in resolution by fostering peer connections and knowledge sharing through a platform with over 100 training videos. WM aims to unite operators nationwide to learn and address shared challenges

STORY

Water Movement is dedicated to empowering Indigenous Water Operators. Our online platform, www.watermovement.ca, serves as a nexus for operators to collaborate, exchange insights, and access over 100 training videos. We ignite passion in the youth through facility tours and workshops, highlighting the vital role and abundant career opportunities in water operations. We amplify the voices of operators by facilitating dialogues with Federal Ministers, ensuring their concerns influence impactful decisions. We also inaugerated the National Indigenous Water Operator Day on March 21st, a day before World Water Day, to honour those ensuring our water's purity before celebrating water itself.

IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES

It is essential not to rush into the project and propose immediate solutions, but rather to listen, learn, and thoroughly understand the complexities of the issues at hand. Respect for the time it takes to genuinely comprehend the communities' challenges was pivotal in fostering true collaboration and effective solution implementation.

Women Plus Water
Women Plus Water

APPLICABLE SDGs:

  • SDG 13.3 - Climate Action Capacity and Awareness

Women Plus Water increases the visibility of women in water and engages people to learn about the gendered impacts of water research, management, and decision-making.

STORY

Women Plus Water began as a lecture series launched by Dr. Corinne Schuster-Wallace, Associate Director of the Global Water Futures (GWF) Research Network, in 2018. In-person and virtual events were supported by Global Water Futures (GWF), the GWF Young Professionals Network and the Global Institute for Water Security. In 2020, Dr. Andrea Rowe - Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Specialist at the Global Institute for Water Security and Global Water Futures - joined the team to grow the series and incorporate inclusive design principles. Since 2020, Women Plus Water has reached over 2000 registrants in 45 countries and through the last five years over 20 young professionals have participated as hosts and 50 speakers have presented.


As a community, Women Plus Water has catalyzed diverse voices, expertise and lived experiences in water. As a small team, the focus is creating impact. In 2023, Women Plus Water launched an Expert List and aim to start Women Plus Water Mentorship Circles to provide even more ways for people to connect and share their expertise with others.


International Year of Glaciers' Preservation
International Year of Glaciers' Preservation

APPLICABLE SDGs:

  • SDG 6.1 - Drinking Water

  • SDG 6.a – SDG-6-related International Co-operation

  • SDG 11.5 – Disaster Risk Reduction

  • SDG 11.b – Water in Sustainable Communities

  • SDG 13.1 – Resilience to Climate Hazards

  • SDG 13.3 - Climate Action Capacity and Awareness

On December 14, 2022, a resolution was unanimously adopted to declare the “International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation, 2025”, introduced by the Republic of Tajikistan.

STORY

On December 14, 2022, at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, a resolution was unanimously adopted to declare the “International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation, 2025”, introduced by the Republic of Tajikistan. It is inherently unique, as it simultaneously declares both the International Day and the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation.

- Declaration of March 21 as the International Day of Glaciers’ Preservation;

- Declaration of 2025 as the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation;

- Establishment of a UN Trust Fund in support of activities for glaciers’ preservation;

- In 2025, convening the International Conference on Glacier’s Preservation in Dushanbe.

The above-mentioned resolution notes the importance of glaciers as a component of the hydrological cycle and that the current accelerated melting and retreat of glaciers has severe impacts on the climate, environment, human health and sustainable development. This document also notes that the impact of global warming has led to the widespread shrinking of the cryosphere which has decreased the stability of high mountain areas and changed the amount and seasonality of run-off and water resources in snow dominated and glacier-fed river basins.

BleuImpact Water Investment Fund
BleuImpact Water Investment Fund

APPLICABLE SDGs:

  • SDG 6.3 - Water Quality

  • SDG 6.4 – Water Efficiency

  • SDG 6.5 - Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)

  • SDG 6.6 - Water-Related Ecosystems

  • SDG 6.a – SDG-6-related International Co-operation

  • SDG 11.b – Water in Sustainable Communities

  • SDG 12.2 – Sustainable Water Use

  • SDG 12.4 – Chemical and Waste Management

  • SDG 15.1 – Sustainable Freshwater Ecosystems

BleuImpact is a unique impact   fund, investing in innovative water solutions. Our goal is clear; protect,   improve and conserve water supplies, one investment at the time. Our success   will benefit the environment, society and the economy.

STORY

Water has absolutely no   economic substitute, no matter what the price. Yet, paradoxically, water   remains undervalued, wasted and polluted! Innovation in the water sector is   the greatest opportunity to create sustainable wealth for the benefit of its   citizens, its environment, its economy and its legacy.

BleuImpact is a unique investment vehicle to support and accelerate the wave   of innovation in the water sector. To address climate change, we're   interested in four (4) water market dynamics (4 D's);
 Decarbonized Water Process (less emissions)
 Distributed Water (less Capex)
 Digitized Water (less Opex)
 Decreased Water Usage (circular economy)

IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES

Key challenges related the water sector include; slow adoption of innovation (risk aversion), emerging climate change consideration (CO2 is the cause while H2O is the consequence),and low stewardship from the investment community (perception that Water is free).

Shift
Shift

APPLICABLE SDGs:

  • SDG 6.2 - Sanitation and Hygiene

  • SDG 12.4 - Chemical and Waste Management

Using revolutionary technology, Shift converts animal waste into reliable, inexpensive energy in developing countries.

STORY

Using revolutionary technology, Shift converts animal waste into reliable, inexpensive energy in developing countries. Shift currently operates 12 projects in remote villages Pakistan, supporting over 500 people, with plans to expand globally.


By repurposing cow waste and transforming into clean energy, Shift is solving two huge global problems: 1. climate change and 2. energy insecurity.

IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES

As always with sustainable development projects, one of the major challenges is getting local buy-in from the communities that stand to benefit from our technology. Our team has worked tirelessly to forge strong partnerships with local community leaders based on mutual trust and respect.

The Transformational Moment: Global Reset & the Future of Hope
The Transformational Moment: Global Reset & the Future of Hope

APPLICABLE SDGs:

  • SDG 6.b - Participation

  • SDG 11.b - Sustainable Communities

  • SDG 13.3 - Climate Action

The risk at that moment is that our society will lapse into some different but still functionally unaltered version of what we had before the pandemic which would be a disaster leading only to the next disasters. The world won’t be and shouldn’t be the same again. Our interests should reside in not re-creating the world we had, but the world we want. This initiative is an invitation for participants to imagine that world for themselves. The premise of this project is that while it will be critical to rebuild our societal structure once this pandemic passes, many are of the view that we should be using this hiatus to thoughtfully consider how we can restructure in ways that perpetuate our gains in carbon emissions reductions while at the same time making other critically needed changes to our economies and lifestyle expectations that will make us not just less vulnerable to pandemics in the future but bolster meaningful persistent action in achieving the goals of the UN’s 2030 Transforming Our World global sustainable development agenda in time to ensure we never come this close to crossing the threshold of societal collapse again.


A Partnership between the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment & Health The Gail O’Riordan Climate & the Arts Legacy Series Creatively United Centre.


Climate and Artist Webinars: https://creativelyunited.org/climate-artists-series/presentations/ 

Ohenagos: Water is Life
Ohenagos: Water is Life

APPLICABLE SDGs:

  • SDG 6.b - Participation

Co-creating water research that integrates Western Science and Indigenous and Local Knowledges; developing tools and resources for enhanced resilience in Indigenous communities and youth empowerment; developing grass roots solutions for water secure futures. 


Let’s Talk Water Vodcast: https://www.ohneganos.com/lets-talk-water 

Accelerating the Implementation of Water-Related SDGs
Accelerating the Implementation of Water-Related SDGs

APPLICABLE SDGs:

  • SDG 6.1 - Drinking Water

  • SDG 6.2 - Sanitation and Hygiene

  • SDG 6.5 - Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)

  • SDG 13.1 - Climate Hazards

Sustainable Development Goal 6 Policy Support System (SDG-PSS) – a tool to assess data availability and national status of water-related sustainability targets including: human resources capacity; financial needs and capacity; policy and institutional needs and capacity; disaster risk reduction; gender mainstreaming; and, integrity.   

Lake Futures: Enhancing Adaptive Capacity and Resilience of Lakes and their Watersheds
Lake Futures: Enhancing Adaptive Capacity and Resilience of Lakes and their Watersheds

APPLICABLE SDGs:

  • SDG 6.3 - Water Quality

  • SDG 6.5 - Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)

This Global Water Futures initiative aims to identify management solutions that address critical water quality issues such as Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) that arise from nutrient exports from agricultural regions, given nutrient legacies and a changing climate. The project focused on developing integrated watershed-lake models, coupled with hydroeconomic modelling to find solutions that minimize trade-offs between lake ecosystems, water uses, and economic growth. 

eDNA for Healthy Watersheds
eDNA for Healthy Watersheds

APPLICABLE SDGs:

  • SDG 6.3 - Water Quality

  • SDG 6.6 - Water-Related Ecosystems

Successful protection of water-related ecosystems requires rapid detection of change, especially in response to pollution. Advancing eDNA methodology for characterising water quality has potential to be included into the in citizen science toolbelt; training with early adopters is underway with more systematic training a future opportunity. 

Columbia River Basin Water Monitoring Collaborative
Columbia River Basin Water Monitoring Collaborative

APPLICABLE SDGs:

  • SDG 6.5 - Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)

  • SDG 6.6 - Water-Related Ecosystems

  • SDG 6.b - Participation

This Collaborative is a consortium of Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, local, provincial, and national governments, academia, and industry. It’s goal is to increase monitoring sites and variables within the Columbia River Basin to fill knowledge gaps, address stakeholder needs, support decision-making, and make data widely available.  

Living Lakes Canada
Living Lakes Canada

APPLICABLE SDGs:

  • SDG 6.6 - Water-Related Ecosystems

Recognised as one of Canada’s top water stewards, Living Lakes Canada collaborates with communities, researchers, and other non-governmental organisations to protect water and address climate change impacts. Programs include citizen science, mapping sensitive water habitats in Canada, and connecting Indigenous and western science around water.  

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