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“Designing with nature captures the essence of climate change adaptation. Adaptation is about responding to the changes that will inevitably occur. Adaptation is at the community level and is therefore about collaboration. Rainwater management is at the heart of designing with nature,” stated John Slater. He told the story of how the Tim Horton’s restaurant in Osoyoos showed what one can do on the ground, at the site level, to make a difference in achieving a bigger picture objective – protect Osoyoos Lake!

“We spent the last half a century trying to control runoff with dikes, storm sewers, curbs and gutters. Now, increased development and increased storm intensity from climate change are increasing peak flows and altering the rules of the game,” stated Anna Warwick Sears. “Rainwater management keeps water on-site, improving water quality by reducing runoff pollution, allowing the rain to infiltrate and recharge aquifers, and establishing ways to harvest water for other uses. Rainwater management complements management of larger storm events, and reduces infrastructure requirements overall.”

“The overall objective is to move municipal governments beyond conventional stormwater management, and inspire them to use rainwater as an integrated resource. The Rain to Resource workshop will bring together a wide cross-section of interested and knowledgeable individuals and provide an opportunity for them to share their knowledge and experiences. BCWWA is pleased to partner with the OBWB in this initiative,” stated Daisy Foster.

“The majority of the workshop presentations were delivered by members of the “convening for action” partnership network, and were about case studies that are featured in Beyond the Guidebook 2010,” reports Ted van der Gulik. “British Columbia made a conscious decision to follow an educational rather than prescriptive path to change the way that land is developed and water is used. A ‘design with nature’ policy framework enables local governments to build and/or rebuild communities in balance with ecology.”

“We probably all knew that rainwater is a resource, but when we start zeroing in on what we can do, we are going to see how valuable it is. But what about the other Q! It is amazing how many times we look at QUANTITY, and I am from the region that wants to talk about QUALITY. So when we get into rainwater as a resource, it is really important that we recognize the quality of the water that we are dealing with when we put it into our lakes and rivers,” stated Stu Wells.

During the period 2000-2001, the mantra in British Columbia was “overcoming fear and doubt” in order to move ahead with projects such as the East Clayton in the City of Surrey, and UniverCity on Burnaby Mountain in the City of Burnaby. it was Patrick Condon of UBC who said: ‘If we fail, it will be a generation before anyone will even have the opportunity to try again; so we must not fail’. Hard-fought successes have ultimately made it possible to change land development practices to capture rain where it falls.

“The Integrated Plan for liquid waste and resource management provides a framework for developing and implementing outcome-oriented watershed plans that have clear linkages with municipal land use planning and development approval processes. Local watershed planning and on-site rainwater management are plan requirements. The Integrated Plan is written as a regulatory document. This limits the extent to which it is able to ‘tell a story’ that will resonate with the public,” stated Kim Stephens.

“The evolution of the capabilities of the web-based Water Balance Model (WBM) has arisen in response to the need to embrace adaptive management in the creation of watershed objectives and to quickly test alternative green infrastructure techniques prior to implementation,” states Jim Dumont. “The easy access and calculation speed combined with the embedded data and information allows the user to easily and effectively plan and design green infrastructure techniques which will achieve the vision and objectives established for the Site, the Development, or the Watershed.”

“The Bowker Creek Urban Watershed Renewal Initiative, known by the acronym BCI, is a multi-jurisdictional collaborative effort between local government, community groups, post-secondary institutions and private citizens to improve the health of Bowker Creek and its watershed. The BCI has developed a 100-year action plan to restore the Bowker Creek Watershed,” stated Jody Watson.

“The Green Infrastructure Partnership published two primers to assist local government staff and designers in developing absorbent landscape regulations and design standards and ensuring their proper implementation. The Technical Primer provides design steps and highlights implementation issues that will help lead to the successful application of an ‘on the ground’ low impact development strategy,” stated Remo Dube.