Archive:

2011

GUIDANCE DOCUMENT: Primer on Rainwater Management in an Urban Watershed Context (November 2011)


The purpose of the Primer is to provide engineers and non-engineers with a common understanding of how a science-based approach to rainwater management has evolved since the mid-1990s. “Pioneer research yielded guiding principles; these are standing the test of time. Evaluation of, and analyses using, the entire rainfall and stream discharge spectrum allows us to see new connections to stream health and to begin the process of creating effective mitigation strategies,” reports Kim Stephens.

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GUIDANCE DOCUMENT: Primer on Urban Watershed Modelling to Inform Local Government Decision Processes (November 2011)


From the stream health perspective, appropriate and effective green infrastructure is a way to increase the level-of-service. Expressed another way, green infrastructure that restores the rainfall absorption capacity of the watershed landscape will increase the level of ecological protection. “For storm sewer systems, the process of establishing an acceptable ‘Level-of-Service’ will require local governments to review, examine, and justify the existing standards and how to transition into the future where costs must be balanced against public needs and expectations,” states Jim Dumont.

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Partnership for Water Sustainability has a role in implementing ‘Living Water Smart, British Columbia’s Water Plan’


“The strategy for leading and implementing change is called Convening for Action in British Columbia. The shared vision is that settlement change will be in balance with ecology: the right development in the right place at the right time. We can achieve this vision if development is guided by a ‘design with nature’ philosophy: start with green infrastructure and truly restore the urban fabric,” states Kim Stephens.

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Building Bridges through Collaboration in the Okanagan


“As information and communication become more integrated (What was life like before the internet?), distributed networks are emerging as powerful components of our social system. Rather than Big Brother gathering data and taking top-down action, responsibility is shared,” states Anna Warwick Sears, Executive Director of the Okanagan Basin Water Board.

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Convening for Action in British Columbia Leads to Success on the Ground


“Convening for Action is a framework that brings stakeholders together, supported by the province, but led by local government. Collaboration and integration is a true bottom-up approach that identifies the issue and then seeks to address it through the alignment of all stakeholders, with emphasis on local government needs,” stated Glen Brown. “The philosophy behind the Water Sustainability Action Plan for BC is quite simple: bring local and regional stakeholders together where there is a desire and energy to make some form of change.”

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