SITELINES MAGAZINE (June 2016): "Water Balance Pathway to a Water-Resilient Future" feature issue introduced the three steps on the Asset Management Continuum for Sustainable Service Delivery
Note to Reader:
Sitelines magazine is a publication of the British Columbia Society of Landscape Architects (BCSLA). Published bi-monthly, BCSLA has a longstanding practice of inviting partner organizations to take on a co-editor role and provide the content for an issue featuring the partner.
The June 2016 issue featured the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC, and comprised a set of 9 articles. This issue marked the first time that the Asset Management Continuum for Sustainable Service Delivery was published.
Sustainable Service Delivery: Watersheds are infrastructure assets
The Partnership for Water Sustainability is collaborating with the Union of BC Municipalities, Asset Management BC and the Province to profile, raise awareness and advance Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery: A Framework for BC.
The BC Framework is a game-changer because it is strategically aligned with asset management requirements under senior government funding programs, in particular the Gas Tax Program. The BC Framework also points the way to integration of natural systems thinking and climate change thinking into asset management.
Asset Management & Ecosystem Services
The ultimate vision for fully integrated Sustainable Service Delivery is that communities would protect, preserve, restore and manage natural assets in the same way that they manage their engineered assets.
A watershed, and the ecosystem services that it provides, is a fundamental and integral part of a community’s infrastructure. This is not to suggest that all ecosystem services provide a municipal function. But as an example, trees, soil, green spaces and water do contribute a valuable municipal function in maintaining the hydrologic integrity of a healthy watershed system.
Implementation of asset management along with the associated evolution of local government thinking is a continuous quality improvement process, not a discrete task. This led to the concept of a continuum. The relevance of this way of thinking is that different local governments will always be at different points and different levels of maturity along the asset management continuum.
To Learn More:
Download In this issue, the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC presents WATER BALANCE PATHWAY TO A WATER-RESILIENT FUTURE, June 2016, to read the complete set of 9 articles published in Sitelines Magazine.
