World Water Day at UBC OKanagan

Here is a video of the 2009 World Water Day event, as shown on UBC TV.
Thanks to everyone who made that day a great success!
http://ubco.tv/frontend2.php?cm=movies/115WorldWaterDay.flv

Thursday, March 26 4:30-6pm
Okanagan Basin Water Board Governance Panel- Nelson Jatel
“Shared Waters, Shared Opportunities”, Canada and US relations and the Okanagan Basin
Kelowna Yacht Club, 1414 Water Street, Kelowna, B.C.
Admission: Free but seats limited to 60; first come first serve. Coffee provided.

Wednesday March 25 2-3pm
Potters without Borders Presentation by Burt Cohen (2:00-3:30, A376)
-demonstration of ceramic water filter technology offered by Canadian Non- Profit Organization

Tuesday, March 24
Opening Ceremonies 12:30-2pm
Processions and water drumming
Speeches and presentations by:
• Spokesperson, UBC Okanagan
• Spokesperson, Okanagan Nation Alliance
• Mayor of Kelowna, Sharon Shepherd
• Mayor of Lake Country, James Baker
• Nelson Jatel, Okanagan Basin Water Board
• Angele Clarke, Anthropology Student
Musical Performances by Hugo De Burgos and Leila Naderi
Poster displays and art installations (SSC and Arts Building foyers)
Wednesday March 25 2-3pm
Potters without Borders Presentation by Burt Cohen (2:00-3:30, A376)
-demonstration of ceramic water filter technology offered by Canadian Non- Profit Organization
Thursday, March 26 4:30-6pm
Okanagan Basin Water Board Governance Panel- Nelson Jatel
“Shared Waters, Shared Opportunities”, Canada and US relations and the Okanagan Basin
Kelowna Yacht Club, 1414 Water Street, Kelowna, B.C.
Admission: Free but seats limited to 60; first come first serve. Coffee provided.
Friday, March 27 11am-12:30pm
UBCO FCCS Poetry Slam Competition
Okanagan Room
-Hosted by Dr. Nancy Holmes and the FCCS students.
7pm
UBC Distinguished Speaker Series
Keynote Speaker- Sandra Postel
“Dividing the Waters: Strategies for a Warming Water Stressed World”
Rotary Centre for the Arts, 421 Cawston Ave, Kelowna, B.C.
Tickets are free and can be picked up from the Rotary Centre for the Arts box office or ordered by calling 250.717.5304.
Tickets for Distinguished Speaker Series events typically go very quickly. If all tickets are gone, there will be a standby lineup at the event and efforts will be made to accommodate everyone.
http://web.ubc.ca/okanagan/publicaffairs/speakers.html
Sandra Postel is director of the Global Water Policy Project in Amherst, Massachusetts. She is author of the books Pillar of Sand and Last Oasis, and of the essay Troubled Waters, selected for the 2001 edition of Best American Science and Nature Writing. In 2002, she was named one of the Scientific American 50, by Scientific American magazine, an award recognizing contributions to science and technology

We have World Water Day t-shirts available for a modest donation of $10. The shirts are organic cotton featuring UBCO fine art (see our profile picture on Facebook). The first round of t-shirts will be made available Thursday March 5 at ART 225 between 2:30 and 4pm, and Tuesday March 10 between 12:30 and 3:30. Sizes and quantities are limited, so get yours soon! If there is enough interest, we will order more so if we don’t have your size right away leave your name and we’ll do our best to accomodate your request!

This event is not related to World Water Week at UBCO but will be of great interest to those who take an interest in Global Water Issues.
Okanagan College will host world-renowned environmentalist, thinker and activist, Dr. Vandana Shiva, for an evening presentation at the Rotary Centre for the Arts’ Mary Irwin Theatre on March 10 at 8 p.m.
For over three decades, Shiva has dedicated her life work to furthering issues of sustainability, agriculture, food rights, intellectual property rights, biodiversity, biotechnology, bioethics, ecofeminism and water rights.
Shiva is a founder of Navdanya, Research Foundation of Science, Technology and Ecology and one of the leaders of the International Forum on Globalization as well as the alter-globalization movement, a well-known global solidarity movement.
Shiva’s presentation on Tuesday evening will be her only stop in the region; she is coming to Kelowna for one night only between lectures at post-secondary institutions in California and Loyola University in Chicago. The event is free of charge and seating will be offered on a first-come, first-serve basis.
http://www.okanagan.bc.ca/administration/publicaffairs/news.html

Attached is a link to Angele Clarke’s survey regarding water use on the UBCO campus. Fill it out and help her with her project!
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=m9tfkH4_2f1dI3YFQKdgkHAA_3d_3d

Hello All!
Just a reminder, we are now booking spaces for World Water Week events on campus. If you have an original idea or a display you would like to share, please contact the World Water Week coordinators, Allisha Luther, Tanya Rooney, or Dr. John Wagner, to reserve a space for your presentation. Spaces are limited, so get yours soon!
We have added a new event to our calendar. The Okanagan Basin Water Board will be hosting a panel discussion on “Shared Waters, Shared Opportunities”, examining Canada/ US relations as they pertain to water security in the Okanagan Basin. The event will be held at the Kelowna Yacht Club on Thursday, March 26 from 4:30 to 6 pm. Admission is free on a first come first serve basis; there are only 60 seats so don’t be late! Coffee will be provided.
World Water Week is now on Facebook! Check out our group page at
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=45032579310
or add the event to your calendar!
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=57528281494
We are also in the process of ordering t-shirts to promote our event. The t-shirts are natural organic cotton with a student designed, water inspired logo. This is your opportunity to show support for water issues in the Okanagan and to own an original piece of UBCO fine art! Quantities will be limited and the prices are by donation. More details on purchase will be made available via this blog when we receive the product.
Look forward to seeing you all at World Water Week 2009!

Welcome to the World Water Day 2009 inaugural blog entry!
World Water Week at UBC-O will run from Tuesday, March 24th to Friday March 27th. The opening ceremonies will be held at 12:30-2:00 pm on Tuesday, March 24th in the central courtyard. Invited guest speakers, visual arts installations, music, theatre, and food vendors are a few of the things you can expect to find at this exciting event!
We have several events in the works for World Water Week, and all of the events promise to be interesting and informative. Special thanks to all of the World Water Day Committee members for their valuable input and offers to showcase UBC-O’s commitment to local and global water issues. Details on specific events and schedules will be forthcoming.
The grand finale for World Water Week will be a talk by keynote speaker Sandra Postel, also a UBC Distinguished Speaker (see http://web.ubc.ca/okanagan/publicaffairs/speakers/sandra-postel.html). Sandra Postel is the Director of the independent Global Water Policy Project, as well as the Center for the Environment at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Over the past two decades she has written a series of influential publications on global water issues, the most recent of which is Liquid Assets: The Critical Need to Safeguard Freshwater Ecosystems. See http://www.globalwaterpolicy.org/biography.html to read her biography and view her important work. Sandra Postel is scheduled to speak at the Rotary Centre for the Arts on March 27th; at 7:00 pm. Tickets are free but will not be available until February 27, and they will most likely sell out so get yours early!
We look forward to seeing everyone at the World Water Week Events!

Thank you everyone we have had another successful World Water Day. We could not have done it without all the help we received from all the people that helped out. Thank you to Dr. Hugo De Burgos for his incredible musical score. To Neil Cadger for the water bottle drum procession. To Dr. Diana French for her classes poster display. Jeanette Armstrong for organizing the Okanagan Nation water purification ceremony. Nelson Jatel for his organization of the panel of experts on the Fintry Queen. Tracey Jack for showing her movie “Magic on the Water”. The Biology, Anthropology and Fresh Water Science unions for making displays. And John Wagner for organizing the event again this year.
Thanks again,
Mark Amundrud.