GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN: Charles Rowney (died in 2019), inducted as a Champion Supporter of the Partnership in 2015
In Memoriam
TRIBUTE BY NATIONAL CENTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE MODELING AND MANAGEMENT:
“It is with deep sadness that we mourn the sudden death of Charles Rowney, the Partnership’s Scientific Authority.”
– The Directors, Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC, April 2, 2019
Charles Rowney will be missed
Alexander Charles Rowney, BSc, BASc, MASc, Ph.D., P.Eng, D.WRE, F.EWRI, M.ASCE, was larger than life. A leader and innovator, he was a giant in the field of water resources. In British Columbia, the enduring legacy of Charles Rowney resides in the web-based Water Balance Model suite of modelling tools.
In the United States, creation of the Center for Infrastructure Modelling and Management (ncimm.org) in 2016 was a crowning achievement in the career of Charles Rowney. As Co-Principal Investigator and Director of Operations, he was a driving force to provide sustainable research, development and outreach for water infrastructure modeling, initially focusing on the US Environmental Protection Agency’s two foremost modelling tools – known around the world by the acronyms EPA SWMM and EPANET.
Charles Rowney is survived by wife Ann, sons Alex and Chris, and two grandchildren. It is unfathomable to think he is gone. He was an unparalleled force: intelligent, creative, kind, appreciative, and master of his destiny.
A Shared Vision for Making a Difference
Charles shared a vision with the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia that transcended the Water Balance tools themselves. The resulting synergy was guided by a desire to “improve where we live” and, in so doing, make a difference. It was his commitment to the mission that made Charles special to us. To say that he will be missed is an understatement. Charles was not just the Partnership’s Scientific Authority, he was our friend.
Charles died only days before he was scheduled to fly from Toronto, where he was attending a conference, to Vancouver for a planning session with the Partnership. His last email communications to the Partnership dealt with the next leap forward in the evolution of the Water Balance Model, and the educational objectives for a workshop that the Partnership and the City of Vancouver were to have co-hosted in June 2019.
THE FINAL EMAIL: Reflections by Charles Rowney on Moving Towards a Sustainable Future in a Changing Climate
The workshop in June would have addressed Modelling Urban & Suburban Drainage in a Changing Climate, a subject that was top-of-mind for Charles Rowney. In his final email to the Partnership, on the day before he died, Charles provided these reflections:
“When moderate in scale, atmospheric rivers bring badly needed water. When larger, these rivers can cause flooding of magnitudes not witnessed before. But floods are supposed to happen. The real question is not how to eliminate them; it is how to accommodate them. Until we come to grips with where and how we build and manage our resources in the first place, we’ll find a sustainable water balance elusive and possibly not achievable.
“For a long time now, the issue has not been a question of knowing how to achieve a particular watershed objective. The real problem, one we may never solve, is reaching agreement on what our objective/s should be.
“Regulations and requirements based on a set of single valued targets may be convenient and even necessary, but they are also of limited efficacy and possibly counter-productive. The reality is that we are dealing with ecosystems and soft targets which are not conveniently expressed or measured. We need to find ways to express performance requirements in ways that are enforceable but also reality based.
“Engineers cannot deliver sustainable watershed systems by themselves, and neither can scientists. Among other disciplines it will take engineers, scientists, sociologists, and perhaps most of all economists working in concert towards common goals before we can hope to move towards a sustainable future.”
Charles Rowney was born and educated in Canada
Born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Charles Rowney graduated from the University of Ottawa where he obtained his undergraduate and graduate degrees and his Ph.D. under the guidance of the legendary Paul Wisner. Charles taught at Queen’s University and the Royal Military College, both in Kingston, Ontario before working in the engineering and consulting fields. In the mid-1990s he relocated to the United States.
In the early 1980s, Charles developed the QUALHYMO model for the Ontario Ministry of Environment, while at the University of Ottawa. QUALHYMO is a continuous quality/quantity model with watershed, receiving stream and BMP (best management practice) components. QUALHYMO is the hydrologic calculation engine for British Columbia’s Water Balance Model.
Charles had a dual background in engineering and biology that encompassed both academia and consulting. He was a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, and a Board member of the Urban Watersheds Research Institute. He was active across the U.S., Canada and internationally over the last several decades. He was a model developer and user whose applications included 1D, 2D and 3D models in rural, urban, river, lake, and coastal systems as well as groundwater systems.
Charles’ greatest gift was his ability to engage people and to create opportunities for those with opposing views to discuss differences and to reach consensus for collaborative action. This can be seen in the creation of the Center for Infrastructure Modelling and Management (ncimm.org) which encourages input from a diverse international community while receiving funding from the EPA.
Charles will be missed.
In this photo taken in June 2015, Ted van der Gulik (L), Partnership President, presented Dr. Charles Rowney (R) with a framed letter of recognition for a decade of service as the Partnership’s Scientific Authority. During the period 2005 through 2019, Charles Rowney’s commitment to the “Water Balance vision” was unwavering.
In 2015, the Partnership honoured Charles Rowney for his contributions as a Champion Supporter
“Year after year, the in-kind contributions of Charles Rowney are consistent, substantial and invaluable,” stated Ted van der Gulik in 2015. “He is a recognized leader in his field. It means a lot to the Partnership that Charles embraced our vision to create a legacy by providing practitioners with the tools and understanding necessary to make informed decisions and focus on desired outcomes.”
“His dedication to the mission has advanced evolution of the Water Balance Methodology and web-based Water Balance Model tools, in particular the WBM Express. These are foundation blocks for implementation of a science-based approach to rainwater management so that BC communities can, over time, truly create a ‘watershed health legacy’.”
In 2006, the Partnership appointed Charles Rowney to the role of Scientific Authority
“Thanks to the recruiting efforts of Jim Dumont, the Partnership’s Engineering Applications Authority, Charles Rowney joined the Water Balance Model team in 2006 to take on the responsibilities of Scientific Authority,” added Kim Stephens.
“Charles made possible the integration of the QUALHYMO calculation engine with the WBM interface. His unflagging commitment to develop the calculator for the WBM Express is also recognized and appreciated.”
“The Partnership vested Charles Rowney with the authority to define, oversee and manage the technical competencies that are embedded in the Water Balance Model. This authority encompasses the computational and scientific/engineering functions.”
“As the Scientific Authority, Charles filled two management roles, namely the management and control of Information Technology and Information Management, and the management and control of the technical underpinnings, of the Water Balance Model and related sites.”
“As a recognized global authority in his fields of expertise Charles Rowney brought a wealth of North American and international experience to his responsibilities as WBM Scientific Authority.”
Drainage Modelling in the 21st Century
“When you think about what is happening with this Water Balance tool in terms of consistency, and in terms of what you might call a consensus standard and agreed approach, it is formulating the problem in a way that is technically defendable…and that is workable,” Charles Rowney stated at the Water Balance Forum hosted by Metro Vancouver in April 2011.
“As we have been working on the WBM, we only go as complicated as is necessary. We strive to make the tool as simple as possible, but no simpler. It has to be consistent, cheap and workable with limited data. It has to fit the local context; and it has to evolve because we are not at the end point today. The WBM will continue to grow and adapt over time.”
“Even the modellers who use them very effectively can have unconscious biases which reflect from the places they practice and the tools they use. This is probably a great place to remember the old saying, that ‘if you have a hammer the whole world looks like a nail’. So the challenge we face is to find modeling technologies that are right for our needs, the solutions we prefer, and the processes we have developed.”
To Learn More:
To read a story that elaborates on the forum purpose, click on 2011 Water Balance Partners Forum: “ISMP Course Correction: Municipalities Can Achieve More With Less” – theme for regional capacity-building event hosted by Metro Vancouver (April 2011)
Dr. Charles Rowney lecturing – on the topic of “Drainage Modelling in the 21st Century: What we now know about what drives a successful model” – at a Water Balance Model Partners Forum hosted by the Metro Vancouver Regional District, April 2011.
In 2017, Charles Rowney looked to cross-border collaboration to enhance water resources research and practice in North America
Given the evident benefits of strategic interaction, the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia and the Urban Watershed Research Institute (UWRI) signed an agreement in 2017 to collaborate regarding reciprocal benefits and joint actions related to water resources research and practice in North America.
The focal point for collaboration was the newly formed and US-based Center for Infrastructure Modeling and Management at ncimm.org. Charles Rowney was a founder of NCIMM and its first Director of Operations.
“British Columbia experience in whole-system, water balance based approaches in the Pacific Northwest adds a critical combination of tools and understanding to the water resources toolbox,” emphasized Charles Rowney when the agreement was announced in April 2017.
To Learn More:
To read the complete story, download Cross-border collaboration would enhance water resources research and practice in North America: Moving Towards “Sustainable Watershed Systems, through Asset Management” in British Columbia.
