Stories about the 2008 Cowichan Valley Water Balance Model Forum

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BC’s Water Plan provides context for ‘Doing Business Differently’ to create liveable communities and protect stream health

Published in June 2008, Living Water Smart is the provincial government’s vision and plan to keep British Columbia’s water healthy and secure for the future. Through this plan, the Province commits to new actions and targets – and builds on existing efforts to protect and keep our water safe.

Protect Stream Health

By 2012, all land and water managers will know what makes a stream healthy, and therefore be able to help land and water users factor in new approaches to securing stream health and the full range of stream benefits.

  • What does this mean to those involved in land development or redevelopment?

The Province and local government are collaborating to develop a suite of user-friendly tools and approaches for assessment purposes and to provide consistency when reviewing development applications. The web-based Water Balance Model for British Columbia (WBM) is one of these tools.

“In October 2008, the Cowichan Valley Regional District hosted a Water Balance Model Forum that was conducted as a hybrid-training workshop to inform, educate and enable those who wish to apply the Water Balance Model to support a Design with Nature approach to land development,” states Jay Bradley, Chair of the Vancouver Island Coordinating Team (VICT).

List of Water Bucket Stories

The Cowichan Valley Water Balance Model Forum was organized under the umbrella of CAVI – Convening for Action on Vancouver Island. The Forum featured a roundtable sharing of case study experience related to achieving runoff-based performance targets.

Five stories about the Forum process and outcomes are posted on several of the communities-of-interest that comprise the Water Bucket Website:

  1. VANCOUVER ISLAND COI: Living Water Smart: Summary Report on 2008 Cowichan Valley Water Balance Model Forum
  2. RAINWATER MANAGEMENT COI:  2008 Cowichan Water Balance Forum: “The success of the Forum is demonstrated by a number of results,” wrote Jay Bradley, Chair, Vancouver Island Coordinating Team— Report from the Chair of the Vancouver Island Coordinating Team describes what provincial pilot accomplished
  3. WATER-CENTRIC PLANNING COI: Cowichan Water Balance Model Forum introduces “Living Water Smart” application to development community — Report from the Chair of the Vancouver Island Coordinating Team describes what provincial pilot accomplished
  4. RAINWATER MANAGEMENT COI: Cowichan Water Balance Model Forum features case study applications at three scales: watershed, neighbourhood and site — Living Water Smart (BC’s Water Plan) provides context for ‘Doing Business Differently’ to create liveable communities and protect stream health 
  5. RAINWATER MANAGEMENT COI: Cowichan Valley Forum is provincial pilot for building developer and local government capacity to a[pply the Water Balance Model — Cowichan Valley Regional District hosts Water Balance Model Forum on October 17, 2008

These stories are consolidated in a downloadable document which can be accessed by clicking on Summary Report on Cowichan Valley Water Balance Model Forum.

What is the Water Balance Model?

The new ‘Water Balance Model powered by QUALHYMO’ is unique, bridges engineering and planning, links development sites to the stream and watershed, and enables local governments to establish science-based runoff performance targets.

To Learn More:

Click on the following link to an article in the April 2008 issue of Runoff: Create Liveable Communities and Protect Stream Health: Water Balance Model powered by QUALHYMO integrates the site with the watershed and the stream.

Courtenay seminar #1 - creating a legacy