ARTICLE: Sustainable Watershed Systems, through Asset Management – Embed ‘state of art’ hydrology in engineering ‘standard practice’ (Asset Management BC Newsletter, Summer 2017)
Note to Reader:
Published in the Summer 2017 issue of the Asset Management BC Newsletter, the article by Kim Stephens is a progress report on implementation of the Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Education Initiative (IREI).
The IREI is aligned with the vision for Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery: A Framework for BC. The IREI is about how to implement “Sustainable Watershed Systems, through Asset Management”. The IREI is funded by the governments of Canada and British Columbia.
Driving Change
A goal of the IREI program is to embed state-of-the-art hydrology in engineering ‘standard practice’. Three categories of IREI deliverables are inter-connected and therefore mutually reinforcing:
- Ecological Accounting Protocol
- Water Balance Methodology / Model / Express
- Professional Development & Outreach
The vision is that a program of teaching, training and mentoring would build up practitioner capacity within local governments to achieve, over time, Sustainable Watershed Systems, through Asset Management.
Project Goal
“The goal of the IREI program is to build local government capacity so that local governments can transition to Step Three on the Asset Management Continuum (refer to image below). The paradigm-shift is that watersheds are managed as ‘infrastructure assets’ that provide ‘water balance 
services’,” states Kim Stephens, Executive Director, Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia.
“We would define success as follows: there would be a consistent understanding of WHY and HOW to apply science (evidence)-based methodologies and tools.”
To Learn More:
Download SUSTAINABLE WATERSHED SYSTEMS, THROUGH ASSET MANAGEMENT: Embed ‘state-of-art’ hydrology in engineering ‘standard practice’ to read the complete article as published in the Summer 2017 issue of the Asset Management BC Newsletter.
Visit: https://waterbucket.ca/rm/category/sustainable-watershed-systems/
