Metro Vancouver hosted 2011 Water Balance Model Partners Forum: Informing the “ISMP Course Correction”
Forum Overview
Periodically, the Water Balance Model Partnership holds a WBM Partners Forum. According to Kim Stephens, Executive Director of the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, these gatherings typically serve two purposes:
provide an opportunity for local governments to reflect on what has been accomplished through alignment and collaboration; and - enable the leadership team to foreshadow where the inter-governmental initiative will lead next.
On April 7, Metro Vancouver hosted the 2011 Water Balance Model Partners Forum. It was conducted as an interactive sharing, learning and consultation session. This event:
- commenced the rollout of a new web platform and four new modules (stream erosion, water re-use, climate change, and tree canopy interception);
- showcased the vision for a homeowner version, namely the ‘WBM Express’; and
- elaborated on how the WBM, a scenario comparison and decision support tool, supports watershed-based planning.
To download a copy of the Agenda, click on ISMP Course Correction: Municipalities Can Achieve More With Less.
Forum Outcome
“As an outcome of the insights flowing from the interaction at the Partners Forum, the Partnership leadership had an epiphany which led to the decision to also rebuild the website front-end in conjunction with the 
platform conversion,” states Ted van der Gulik, Chair. “The re-build will allow Water Balance Model users to select an environment that fits their knowledge and needs. Three launch points will facilitate establishing and integrating performance targets at three scales, namely: watershed, neighbourhood and site.”
To learn more about the epiphany, click on Partnership announces that Water Balance Model “Version 2.1” will go live in Fall 2011
Informing the “ISMP Course Correction”
In the weeks preceding the Forum, the Partnership released a series of articles that foreshadowed the information-transfer that would take place at the Forum. To download copies of the articles, click on the links below.
- Water Balance Model Partners Forum will showcase vision for WBM Express for Homeowners
- Water Balance Model Partners are charter members of the Partnership for Water Sustainability
- Community of Users Inform Platform Conversion for Water Balance Model
- Integrated Rainwater Management: Municipalities Can Achieve More With Less
- “ISMP Course Correction” will help Metro Vancouver municipalities fulfill regulatory commitments
The series and the Forum are part of the continuing rollout of Beyond the Guidebook 2010: Implementing a New Culture for Urban Watershed Protection and Restoration in British Columbia. The purpose of this integrated approach is to provide ‘how to’ guidance for developing outcome-oriented urban watershed plans, with emphasis on a necessary course correction for Integrated Stormwater Management Plans (ISMPs).
Posted March 2011