According to David Grigg, the neighbourhood plan for the northeast area of the UBC South Campus includes an innovative rainwater management system for underground storage of rainwater runoff and pumping to sustain summer baseflow in an environmentally sensitive creek channel.
At the Metro Vancouver Water Balance Model Forum, hosted by the City of Surrey in March 2009, the City shared and reflected on the Grandview Heights and South Newton experience related to implementation of green infrastructure.
Surrey WBM Forum – Vince Lalonde title slide
In 2009, Surrey Water Balance Model Forum promoted alignment of local actions in Metro Vancouver with provincial goals.
In a guest column published online in February 2009 by the Communities in Transition program, Kim Stephens talks about a seminar series that is protecting stream health and building sustainable communities on Vancouver Island.
As communities become environmentally conscious and involved, they modify and reach beyond old development-impact reduction methods to more interlinked, efficient and cost-effective strategies at site, neighborhood and regional levels.
“We are looking at our building inspectors doing more than just inspecting plumbing and buildings. We want them to be more involved at the front-end of the process, not the back-end when the building is being built. We want them involved at the subdivision stage so that they understand what we want to achieve. In other words, it is more than just a building going up, The building permit is for the site. The site needs to be managed,” stated Kevin Lagan.
Cowichan Valley Forum – provincial pilot for building developer and local government capacity to apply the Water Balance Model. “The provincial and regional water regulations are changing, and by 2012 provincial water laws will substantially change how development occurs. The purpose of the workshop is to review progressive rainwater/stormwater management techniques and how they can be incorporated into the planning and development process,” wrote Jack Peake, Chair of the Cowichan Valley Regional Board.
“We featured the east Courtenay area in the first seminar because this part of the city has evolved from fields and forest over the past two decades, and so has our approach to rainwater and stormwater management. We incorporated a walkabout at the front-end of the seminar program so that participants would have a visual frame of reference for concepts that will be covered in the curriculum for the second and third seminars,” stated Kevin Lagan. A key objective is consistency at local front counters so that developers and development consultants hear a consistent message as to what is expected of them.
The Fife City Council recently took a bold step to encourage low-impact development (LID) for all construction projects within the city. Under the new requirements, low-impact techniques would be required as part of all stormwater drainage permits within the city.
While its uses are well known in rural areas where open jars on rooftops are the norm, urban Malaysia is just beginning to reap its benefits. Lecturer Norhaiza Nordin of University College of Engineering and Technology in Kuantan said that proper use of rainwater under the Rain Water Management System could minimise erosion and flooding.
