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“Once you get started with any new process, you get feedback that generates ‘collisions of ideas’. The processes get better and the products become stronger. And that is what we are seeing in the City. Push-back from developers declined once they saw what a rain garden looked like for the first time. From all perspectives, it gets easier and easier with each successive installation,” concludes Peter Navratil.

“Rain gardens at elementary schools improve fish habitat in Delta’s waterways by promoting infiltration of rainwater runoff. A ‘Rain Gardeners’ curriculum-based education program for Grade 4 and 5 students accompanies the rain garden construction. These ‘rain gardeners’ connect to their local watershed and raise awareness as to how everyday actions may impact nearby watercourses,” states Sarah Howie.

“The video series is designed to show what individual house owners can do to manage rainfall, reduce their water footprint and minimize surface runoff from their property. At the neighbourhood scale, we feature municipal innovations that deal with roads and parking lot runoff; and at the watershed scale, we address the cumulative effects and the options to reduce all impacts from urban activities,” explains Julie Wilson.

“The mission is to change environmental behaviour through education and the creation of public art,” says Louise Towell. “The ‘fish on fences’ program creates awareness of a school’s local watershed through experiential learning.”

“An interesting aspect of Coquitlam’s story is that it demonstrates, on a local level, how attitudes and approaches in the Metro Vancouver region have evolved with watershed management and the recognition of rainwater as a resource,” reports Melony Burton.

“Embracing Seasonal Rainwater is designed to see how much of the peak storm flow we can attenuate during rain events in an effort to provide a low-cost increase in system capacity while engaging residents in their role in the urban water cycle. It also has the potential for reducing potable water use for irrigation in the summer months,” states Carolyn Drugge.

“Elementary students mainly from Mount Pleasant have learned about streams, created related art projects and a community parade. The St. George Rainway project is meant to be a community-building project as much as it is an engineering project,” explained Shahira Sakiyama.

“It is important to use descriptions which are linked more closely with the objectives and ideas. Ideally, the right choice of wording will frame the concepts clearly, and provide the terminology with some longevity. Clarity will help with uptake – jargon and anachronism needs to be avoided as they can obscure the objectives and ideas,” states Robert Hicks.

“The Opportunities Assessment by the District is founded on streamkeeper knowledge. Now we can work with the District to inform the broader community. We can open eyes and minds. We can open doors so that together we can make the changes necessary to achieve the vision for the Watershed Blueprint,” states ZoAnn Morten.

“Rainwater is a key feature of everything that is proposed. We have been guided by this principle: how will the Town Centre Draft Implementation Plan do its part to improve the overall health of the entire Hastings Creek watershed system?”, states Karen Rendek.