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“The essence of the VIEA-CAVI partnership is contained in the phrase economy and ecology in balance. VIEA promotes regional initiatives that strengthen economic capacity; and CAVI represents the ecological perspective through its championing of green infrastructure and water sustainability. Looking ahead, ‘economy and ecology in balance’ is a message that we will both be communicating in the public realm in an educational context,” states David Willie.

“We have found Develop with Care to be of immense help in supporting the sustainability goals and objectives of our Official Community Plan. It has become standard practice to include provisions which encourage developers to implement applicable guidelines and recommendations in all our Environmental Development Permits,” states Alan Haldenby.

“The knack is to demonstrate that the road to both short and long term economic security is through COLLABORATION. We have to demonstrate that ‘business as usual’ will eventually result in economic loss both short and long term. Then hearts and minds will be receptive to a vision for settlement, economy and ecology in balance. This is why I am so impressed by the collaboration that is gathering momentum on Vancouver Island,” states Eva Kras.

“The Ministry looks forward to aligning efforts with the Partnership to further advance implementation of the “Beyond the Guidebook” initiative. The Ministry’s renewed emphasis on the rainwater management component of Liquid Waste Management Plans has created an opportunity to demonstrate how to integrate regulatory compliance and collaboration,” states Cairine MacDonald.

“The Partnership has rebuilt the highly successful waterbucket.ca website. Why? To offer our visitors a better way to utilize our site and take advantage of the tools and information. In conjunction with the rebuild, we are excited to announce the launch of our newest community-of-interest, namely: Vancouver Island Water,” reports Mike Tanner.

“A consultation workshop was held as an adjunct to the Water in the City Conference in Victoria. This provided a timely opportunity to test and validate an approach that can bridge the gap between talk (interest) and action (practice) in advancing a water-centric approach to community development,” reported Eric Bonham.

“A decade ago, looking at rainfall differently led the Province to develop the Guidebook and initiate a paradigm-shift in the way rainwater is managed. The Guidebook formalized the Water Balance Methodology in order to establish performance targets. The Guidebook is standing the test of time because the foundation material is science-based,” states Peter Law.

“An increasing building footprint on properties is short-circuiting the WATER BALANCE. This creates risks for local government, both financial and environmental. If we want to make change, then we have to find a way to influence landowners to look at their properties differently,” stated Richard Boase.

“When Kim Stephens met with the Metro Vancouver Utilities Committee to provide us with a progress report on the Water Balance Model, we were impressed that our $50,000 grant has leveraged $250,000 in cash and in-kind contributions,” states City of North Vancouver Mayor Darrell Mussatto….

“Metro Vancouver contributed $50,000 to fund further enhancement of the Water Balance Model because widespread use of this decision tool will help Metro Vancouver and members fulfil our regulatory commitments, in particular those related to integrated rainwater management,” stated Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore, Chair of the Metro Vancouver Board.