Convening for Action in British Columbia

The team of Kirk Stinchcombe, Carolyn Drugge and Richard Boase will speak to the benefits of utilizing rainwater as a resource in the urban environment.

“The City of Vancouver’s Embracing Seasonal Rainwater Project is not the fabled silver-bullet solution to addressing system capacity or climate change adaptation issues; but it does have the potential to address multiple objectives in making communities more livable over the long term. Embracing Seasonal Rainwater is designed to see how much of the peak storm flow we can attenuate during rain events in an effort to provide a low-cost increase in system capacity while engaging residents in their role in the urban water cycle,” states Carolyn Drugge.

“Water demand management has come a long way. Community-based social marketing practices are taking hold; volumetric pricing is becoming the norm; and Canadians are more conscious of their water use behaviour. But what does the future hold?,” asks Kirk Stinchcombe. “Integrated Marketing Communications (ICM) can mean conservation campaigns that are coordinated and systematically planned in previously unimagined ways.”

“The value of the new module is in large part educational. We see it as a way to raise awareness of the urban water cycle and how this understanding could eventually be applied in practice, especially by those who are involved in the design of infrastructure and communities,” observes Richard Boase. ““The Rainwater Harvesting Module enables the Water Balance Model user to explore the beneficial use of rainwater. In other words, rainwater is a resource and therefore should not be viewed as waste.”

“How are we capturing rainwater and dealing with it properly in a way that not only enhances our urban environment with green and blue spaces, increases biodiversity and actively contributes to Vancouver becoming one of the greenest cities in the world by 2020. Elementary students mainly from Mount Pleasant have learned about streams, created related art projects and a community parade. The St. George Rainway project is meant to be a community-building project as much as it is an engineering project,” explained Shahira Sakiyama.

“To be first nominated and then elected as a Director, prospective candidates must be able to demonstrate via past performance that they can make an effective contribution in achieving the Partnership vision for settlement, economy and ecology in balance,” states Peter Law.

“Demand is on the decline in many communities across Canada, but how much of this is because of municipal water efficiency programs? Improvements to building codes, better appliance and fixture technology and broader changes in community behaviour and customs all have a huge impact on water consumption. So does climate,” states Kirk Stinchcombe.

“An unexpected outcome of workshop program development is that we are shining the spotlight on The Living Building Challenge. This focus is the result of connecting with the right individuals at the right moment in time. We are excited to have both Mark Buehrer and Ron Schwenger participating. Both are leaders in the Living Building movement,” states Ted van der Gulik.

The team of Mark Buehrer, Craig Borland and Ron Schwenger will highlight what one needs to know about the design and installation of rainwater harvesting systems in a Living Building context.

“The goal of the Bullitt Center is to change the way buildings are designed, built and operated to improve long-term environmental performance and promote broader implementation of energy efficiency, renewable energy and other green building technologies in the Northwest,” states Mark Buehrer.