Category:

Showcasing British Columbia’s Watershed-Based Approach

Across Canada Workshop Series on Resilient Rainwater Management launched in Calgary: "It was an overwhelming success," said Bert van Duin, City of Calgary host


“The big takeaway for me is confirmation that in Calgary we are actually on the right track; and it fits with a number of items that I heard. There is a lot of discussion pertaining to degraded areas, wetlands and streams. People say ‘well, it is degraded and so it has no value’. In contrast to that mind-set, the notion of the Shifting Baseline continuum tells us that we can go back to a higher state,” stated Bert van Duin.

Read Article

District of North Vancouver’s “GEOweb Open Data portal” empowers citizens through information


“Understanding the context is key to interpreting results. An increasing building footprint is short-circuiting the Water Balance, and this has consequences for local governments – both in terms of financial liability and fisheries sustainability. The District of North Vancouver is leveraging technology to help us make better decisions and provide better service,” states Richard Boase.

Read Article

Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia posts PowerPoint presentations for "Across Canada Workshop Series on Resilient Rainwater Management"


“In the morning sessions, it was essentially a case of ‘presenting at’ our audiences. Each time, we needed to bring a mixed audience up to a common level of understanding of basic concepts. The process was intense. Our audiences had to absorb a large body of knowledge in a very period of time. And they did. As a result, the afternoon sessions were highly interactive and highly effective,” reports Kim Stephens.

Read Article

Affordable & Effective Asset Management: Drainage Infrastructure Screening Tool supports implementation of “Sustainable Service Delivery” by local governments in British Columbia


“The Screening Tool is an intermediary step in the assessment process that also happens to include the opportunity to provide a look at how climate change will affect the drainage systems. The tool also makes it is easy to assess the relative significance of changes in land use, in particular densification. Local governments can now consider both climate change and land use change at the same time, and with the same tool,” says Jim Dumont.

Read Article

Watershed Case Profile Series: Rainwater Management and Rain Gardens in the City of North Vancouver


“The City’s vision is that we can enhance and elaborate the interface between urban and natural states. For more than a decade, the City has been demonstrating how to do this. In doing this work, we are not re-creating pristine natural conditions. Rather, by designing with nature we are creating an informed and intentionally designed urban landscape,” states Doug Pope.

Read Article

Watershed Case Profile Series: Creating the Future in the City of Coquitlam


“We have arrived at a good place, but the journey has not been easy. In fact, we had to work our way through some pretty contentious periods. We persevered, we adapted and we progressed. We want other local governments to know about the good, the bad and the ugly of the Coquitlam story so that they may learn from our experience and know that it is okay to stumble,” states Peter Steblin.

Read Article

Watershed Case Profile Series: Hastings Creek Watershed Blueprint is Provincially Significant and Precedent-Setting


“We have a plan; there is agreement about the goals; we are developing tools for use by staff, developers and homeowners; and we have a schedule of opportunities. Everything that we need is in play. It is important that we seize opportunities to tell the Hastings Creek story. It is also essential that we communicate why and how we are being successful. If we all tell the story, then people will become energized in the re-telling,” states Gavin Joyce.

Read Article

Creating the Future in British Columbia: Recognize and Address the “Shifting Baseline”


“Every generation will use the images that they got at the beginning of their conscious lives as a standard and will extrapolate forward. And the difference then, they perceive as a loss. But they don’t perceive what happened before as a loss. You can have a succession of changes. At the end you want to sustain miserable leftovers. And the question is, why do people accept this?,” stated Daniel Pauly.

Read Article

Mantra for Sustainable Rainwater Management in British Columbia: "Build a Vision, Create a Legacy"


“Fundamental change in the scope of rainwater/stormwater planning, development standards, construction and operations will only happen if there is a broad understanding as to why the changes are needed, what they are, and how they can be practically implemented. The ability of consumers and the development community to adapt will then set the pace of change,” stated Erik Karlsen.

Read Article

Adapting to a Changing Climate: “We try to inspire communities to have a vision of their future, what they will look like on the ground in fifty years,” says Tim Pringle


“After ten years of involvement with the Partnership for Water Sustainability, I feel as committed as ever. At times, I find myself amazed at the collective expertise of the volunteers who work in Partnership initiatives. Their wisdom makes the work of the Partnership efficient; it allows a great deal to be done with very limited dollars. We collaborate with practitioners as equals and take services to their territories,” states Tim Pringle.

Read Article