Water visioning is the step prior to water planning where the dreams and goals of the group (e.g., local residents) can be explored, shared, and clarified.  What kind of life do we want to live?  What sort of life do we wish for our children and grandchildren?   The visioning step is often, indeed usually, left out of the planning process because it doesn’t carry that sense of urgency that often motivates the creation of a plan.  The vision, however, is an essential first step; it is not an option.  Without a conscious vision, the planning process is oriented around the unconscious and usually conflicting visions of the people doing the planning.  When a vision is carefully constructed through a participatory process there will still be plenty of conflict and confusion in the planning process, but with a clear vision, a workable plan has a better chance of emerging.

Resources for Water Visioning

Interested in conducting a water visioning exercise?  Contact us for suggestions, or use these resources on your own. 

Generic Outline for a Water Visioning Process.  This simple outline serves as a check-list for conducting a water visioning exercise.

 

Multi-Stakeholder Process "Resource Portal".  This complex website from Wangeningen Agricultural University (Netherlands) may offer more than you want to know about options for participatory planning.  Most of the cases it describes involve water and/or rural development.   The one approach that it does not mention, and which is our preferred approach to the visioning process, is Appreciative Inquiry, which has its own complicated website to learn from.