Convening for Action in British Columbia

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wally wells

    ARTICLE: “Integrated Rainwater Management: Move to a Levels-of-Service Approach to Sustainable Service Delivery” (Asset Management BC Newsletter, January 2011)


    “Asset management usually commences after something is built. The challenge is to think about what asset management entails BEFORE the asset is built,” stated Stan Westby, the first chair of the Asset Management BC community-of-interest. Level-of-Service is the integrator for everything that local governments do. Thus, a guiding principle could be framed this way: Establish the level-of-service that is sustainable to protect watershed health, and then work backwards to determine how to achieve that level of protection and level of drainage service.

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    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Embedding a Sustainable Service Delivery Culture within Local Governments (October 2022)


    “In 2013, when I made my first presentation about asset management at a CAO forum, I observed mostly blank stares. And when I engaged in conversations afterwards, I heard comments to the effect that asset management sounds interesting but that is not what we do, and we are not interested in that. A decade later, the awareness has clearly changed quite a bit. But from what I have seen, a majority of CAOs still have not bought in and are not necessarily interested. Some talk the talk but do not necessarily walk the talk,” stated David Allen

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    EMBEDDING A SUSTAINABLE SERVICE DELIVERY CULTURE WITHIN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: “Wally Wells and David Allen are motivated by their shared desire to inspire implementation of organization-wide asset management. They view this outcome as a foundational element of local government in British Columbia,” stated Kim Stephens, Executive Director, Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC


    “The news from Asset Management BC is that Wally Wells has passed the Executive Director baton to David Allen to continue the ‘sustainable service delivery’ mission. This duo will continue their collaboration for the foreseeable future as Asset Management BC builds on the foundation now in place after a decade of hard work and a team effort. With the passing of the baton from Wally to David, having a facilitated conversation provided each with a timely “moment for reflection” on where Asset Management BC has come from and where it is going,” stated Kim Stephens.

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    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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    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British  Columbia: Asset management is an awkward term and confuses everyone” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in April 2022


    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. That is the takeaway message. He has drawn attention to the need to retrain elected representatives to look at “plans” differently and think about risks and consequences for the community because of a Council doing or not doing things. “For decades we have trained our elected officials how to think and what to do with a plan. But now, with the Asset Management Plan, we want them to do something completely different,” stated Wally Wells.

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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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