According to Remi Dube, a key message about the Morgan Heights development is that the developer is holding securities for landscaping and sediment control; and that money is not released until after the houses are built.
“On the matter of implementing on-site rainfall capture, there is a fundamental difference between Surrey and other Metro Vancouver municipalities,” states Remi Dubé. “Surrey has moved beyond pilot projects; we are moving to a broader watershed objectives approach to capturing rain where it falls to protect our streams.”
2010 Winter Games organizers have awarded the Richmond Olympic Oval a “Sustainability Star” for its environmentally-friendly design and construction. Green building features include a unique rainwater management system.
“Students compare the impacts based on traditional neighbourhood development techniques, to the impacts when the sustainable design features are employed. Students also have the option of comparing through a variety of rainfall intensity and duration events,” reported David Hislop.
The 250-hectare neighbourhood of East Clayton in Surrey was designated as ‘urban’ in 1996, setting the stage for an unprecedented new neighbourhood plan to increase residential density, promote social cohesion and maximize affordability and walkability.
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.
“The City of North Vancouver is committed to integrating sustainable practices into its daily business. Furthermore, the City is leading by example in demonstrating on-the-ground leadership. This is illustrated by drainage features recently constructed within the highly urban Lonsdale Avenue corridor,” reports Tony Barber.
The City of Surrey has been quietly plugging away at finding an answer to one of today’s most important questions in urban rainwater management: ‘How can we accommodate forecasted growth while achieving community liveability, urban stream health and environmental protection outcomes at a watershed scale.’
About 1/3 of the urban landscape is typically covered by road rights-of-way. This creates opportunities to capture rain where it falls and restore it to natural hydrologic pathways. In British Columbia, Delta municipality is planting an urban forest to mitigate climate change. Delta has set a goal to plant 20,100 trees by the year 2010.
The partnership between the University of British Columbia and Greater Vancouver's three North Shore municipalities is precedent-setting.
