“Local governments bear the entire financial burden to stabilize watercourses impacted by increased runoff volume after land is developed. The challenge is to think about what infrastructure asset management entails BEFORE an asset is proposed and incorporated in a municipality’s capital plan,” states Ray Fung.
“We are working to better match rainwater and stormwater management to the development context through the integration of rainwater into all planning scales, from the region to the building,” states Paul Crabtree.
“Redevelopment of previously developed land can lead to the net improvements in watershed health that we need. Redevelopment triggers restoration activities of our existing built environment. Watershed and sub-watershed analysis, integrated with regional planning and local regulations, should be at the heart of new stormwater regulations,” states John Norquist.
“People ‘hear’ the word ‘deficit’ and assume the accountants will fix it all. But people ‘listen’ to the word ‘liability’ and often ask questions or realize some action is necessary,” states Wally Wells.
According to Nora Beck, “the Rainwater-in-Context intiative urges modification because lot-level standards alone deliver lower overall performance than holistically-planned shared systems at the community or watershed scale.”
Plan reimagines the city as an oasis of rain gardens, green roofs, permeable pavements, thousands of additional trees, and more. It would 'peel back' the city’s concrete and asphalt.
Project is designed to divert about 90% of the water from a moderate storm; and is part of a larger city-wide push to find more environmentally-friendly and cheaper ways to cleanse stormwater. “It’s an innovative, ecological, green way to treat stormwater,” said John McLaughlin
“Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver are learning from each other, and are moving in the same direction. Commencing in 2006, ‘convening for action’ program elements implemented on Vancouver Island have built on Metro Vancouver approaches and precedents,” states Kim Stephens.
“The results showed that urban trees intercept and evapotranspire more rain than trees in forested environments. Together with the delay in runoff trees can act as an effective rainwater management tool on individual properties,” stated Yeganeh Asadian. “We applied a unique methodology for measuring rain/throughfall under 54 different urban trees using a system of PVC pipes hung beneath the canopy to capture the throughfall where it drained into a rain gauge attached to a data logger.”
