Convening for Action in British Columbia

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Asset Management BC

    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Integration of Stream Systems into Sustainable Drainage Service Delivery” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in May 2022


    The BC Framework establishes expectations; it does not prescribe solutions. It is a game-changer because it redefines the context for deciding how infrastructure is planned, financed, implemented, and maintained. “It is all about building trust between Council and staff, keeping in mind what can realistically be accomplished by an organization, and being clear about the limitations of the current state-of-practice and knowledge and our ability to explain what the numbers mean in that context,” stated David Allen.

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    WHAT’S IN A WORD: “Choice of words can make or break one’s ability to open minds to a new or different way of thinking,” stated Kim Stephens, Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC


    “By focusing on the distinction between a PLAN and a STRATEGY, the article by Wally Wells goes to the heart of output-oriented versus outcome-oriented approaches. The issue of ‘output versus outcome’ is one that the provincial government first identified two decades ago when it released Stormwater Planning: A Guidebook for British Columbia. The Guidebook premise is that a focus on desired outcomes would lead to action, whereas a focus on output leads to ‘analysis paralysis’. Living Water Smart in British Columbia is outcome oriented,” stated Kim Stephens.

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    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Sustainable Service Delivery for Watershed Systems” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in March 2022


    “At the Workshop, I explained that implementation of asset management along with the associated evolution of local government thinking is a continuous process, not a discrete task. Some local governments are advanced. Some are just starting out. Over time, capacity and expertise will increase for asset management. We are saying the same thing for integration of natural assets. Local governments, over time, will progress. A desired outcome is that they will eventually incorporate natural capital into their asset management processes,” stated Glen Brown.

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    ARTICLE: “Profile in Courage – Oak Bay’s Sustainable Funding Plan for Infrastructure Replacement” (Asset Management BC Newsletter, Winter 2022)


    “Anybody who is going to hear or read about the Oak Bay story, the thing that they really must understand is the role of Council. There is a special type of courage that Council needs to have to say, ‘give us the naked truth’. There is not a lot of political up-side to shining a light on infrastructure challenges. Oak Bay Council did that, no holds barred. They wanted to know what the situation was. And so that clearly demonstrates a strong commitment to an asset management culture in Oak Bay which is growing day by day. Oak Bay’s driver for action is the $463 million cumulative infrastructure funding gap,” stated Christopher Paine.

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    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery in the District of Oak Bay” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in January 2022


    “We have already started ramping up how much maintenance work we are doing, how much capital rehabilitation, and so on. The growth is going to continue. We are lucky that the community is asking for this. Now we are responding. It is a great situation. In some cases, we are being asked, Can you do this faster? In a lot of communities, it is a struggle because staff has a difficult time getting Council attention. In Oak Bay, we are fortunate to have folks who care about infrastructure and renewal. We can talk about it frankly. Things aren’t perfect but we are able to make progress…which is key,” stated Dan Horan.

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    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Asset Management Continuum for Sustainable Service Delivery” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in December 2021


    “Implementation of asset management along with the associated evolution of local government thinking is a continuous process, not a discrete task. We needed a way to illustrate this diagrammatically, and thus communicate, what the journey by a local government to the eventual Sustainable Service Delivery destination would look like. This led us to the concept of a continuum. Over time local governments can achieve the goal of sustainable service delivery for watershed systems,” stated Glen Brown. “It’s all about the service because infrastructure assets are worthless IF they do not provide a service.”

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    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery”, released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in May 2021


    “Everyone in a local government organization needs to recognize that asset management is a process, not a plan. The approach BC local governments follow for their asset management process is enshrined in the document Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery: A BC Framework. The important and telling part of the title is Asset Management is a process to provide a sound basis for decisions relating to the function – which is service delivery,” stated Wally Wells.

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    LIONS GATE SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT, METRO VANCOUVER: “Community advocates focussed political attention on the need to be visionary and dare to be bold in going beyond what is currently minimum standard of practice,” says Dr. Don Mavinic, a UBC engineering professor and world-renowned expert on wastewater treatment systems who has advocated for tertiary treatment


    Motivated by a shared vision that “the future is here, NOW” for restoration of the aquatic environment in Burrard Inlet, three engineers with distinguished careers have been passionate and relentless in collaborating as an interdisciplinary team to convince the Metro Vancouver Regional District to re-think the treatment components for the new Lions Gate Treatment Plant. The decision to add tertiary treatment was announced in September 2019. “Now, there is no looking back…. ’elders power, combining mind and action’,” stated Don Mavinic.

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