Manitoba Water Soft Paths

A "soft path" approach to water management

IISD, in partnership with Manitoba Water Stewardship, is undertaking a program to provide a policy framework to achieve sustainable water resources management. The project is a multi-year program in which we will analyze water use in parts of Manitoba south of, and including, the Winnipeg River and Saskatchewan River watersheds, then use a "Soft Paths" approach to make recommendations for future policy direction.

The emerging concept of water soft paths is about changing the way we use water. A water soft path approach involves envisioning a future state of water sustainability, and designing a feasible policy pathway to achieve that state. The water soft path is characterized by wide use of diverse, often decentralized systems. This project will critically examine the services for which we use water, and appropriately match water quality to its intended use.

We firstly need to paint an accurate picture of current water use in the province. This involves accounting for all water demands and uses, such as withdrawals from watersheds for municipal, industrial and agricultural purposes; as well as the ecological needs of the aquatic environment. IISD is currently developing a "bottom-up" water budget framework for use in individual Conservation Districts, which will form the foundation for our "Soft Paths" analysis.