Prince George Workshop provided venue for rollout of Stormwater Planning Guidebook and pre-launch of Water Balance Model in 2003
Note to Reader:
In the second quarter of 2003, the Province of British Columbia and Environment Canada co-sponsored a set of three workshops titled Tools for Liquid Waste Management Planning at the Local Government Level. The BC Water & Waste Association provided organizational support in order to hold workshops in three regions: Penticton in the Okanagan, Prince George in the Central Interior, and Cumberland on Vancouver Island. To download a copy of the agenda for the Prince George workshop, click here.
Watershed Protection is Achievable
Release of Stormwater Planning: A Guidebook for British Columbia in 2002 was a catalyst for action to implement a ‘design with nature’ approach to rainwater management and green infrastructure. To faciltate the move from talk to action, the Guidebook also provided the impetus to develop the Water Balance Model as a decision support tool.
“The Guidebook applied a science-based understanding, developed the water balance methodology to establish performance targets, and demonstrated that urban watershed restoration could be accomplished over a 50-year timeframe as and when communities redevelop,” stated Laura Maclean (Environment Canada), Co-Chair of both the Guidebook Steering Committee and the Water Balance Model Inter-Governmental Partnership (IGP).
“The premise underpinning the Guidebook was that land development and watershed protection can be compatible. The basis for this premise was that municipalities exert control over runoff volume through their land development and infrastructure policies, practices and actions.”
“An Inter-Governmental Partnership developed the Water Balance Model as an extension of the Guidebook. Local governments wanted a tool that quantifies the effectiveness of rainfall capture features such as rain gardens and absorbent soil. The Water Balance Model does a continuous simulation over the period of record to test facility performance under different combinations of land use, soil and rainfall,” explains Kim Stephens.
“The workshop series created awareness and interest that led the Union of BC Municipalities to provide the IGP with a platform for the formal launch of the Water Balance Model at their annual conference in September 2003.”
To Learn More:
To download a copy of the presentation by Laura Maclean, click on New Tools for Stormwater Planning in BC
To download a copy of the presentation by Kim Stephens, click on Evaluating the Effectiveness of Stormwater Source Control: The Water Balance Modeling Approach
