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The workshop was designed to engage the Metro Vancouver Regional Engineers Advisory Committee (REAC). “The 2005 workshop truly was a dynamic and transformational event. We witnessed the motivational power of celebrating successes. We also recognized the need to get the story out about the leadership being shown by local government. This influenced everything that followed, including the work on Vancouver Island,” stated Ray Fung.

“We value water and we’re changing the traditional way stormwater is managed between homes, businesses and the environment. We are taking that (old, grey infrastructure) barrier down, and are stopping the water from ever hitting the system,” stated Howard Neukrug. "And so we’re leading the way, we’re demonstrating, we’re innovating, putting things in place.

“We want folks to understand that stormwater and stormwater management and infrastructure are just a derivative of rain. Stormwater starts as rain. And if we can deal with it at that level on each site, our infrastructure will last longer and it will cost our communities less in terms of direct infrastructure. Also, there will be potentially less damage,” stated Kate Miller.

In April 2015, Senator Tom Udall and Representative Donna Edwards reintroduced legislation to provide critical support for innovative stormwater strategies in the United States, improving the ability of communities to effectively manage polluted runoff and sewage overflows while relieving pressure on aging infrastructure.

“A new community is emerging in northeast Coquitlam at Burke Mountain. A key feature of planned development at Burke Mountain is a low impact, ‘natural systems approach’ to rainwater management. This approach will strive to preserve the natural water balance. In simple terms this means designing to get stormwater into the ground and to keep it out of the pipes,” stated Don Moore.

“The initiative is designed to help local government champions integrate natural systems thinking and adaptation to a changing climate into asset management. A desired outcome is healthy streams and watersheds. So, implement ‘Design With Nature’ standards of practice for development and infrastructure servicing. Protect and restore stream corridors and fish habitat,” stated Peter Law.

“A province-wide, made in BC, asset management strategy that goes beyond the requirements of the Gas Tax Asset Management Framework, is beneficial for all local governments, as well as other organizations. The BC Framework released in December 2014 provides a high level overview of what is needed to develop, implement and maintain strong asset management practices for local governments,” states Liam Edwards.

“The focus on desired outcomes allows local governments to develop and implement an approach that can be both incremental and measured, tailored to the individual needs and capacity of each local government,” states Wally Wells. “The BC Framework recognizes that asset management, and the best practices that support asset management, is scalable to community size and capacity. The BC Framework also recognizes there are many components within the asset management process.”

The BC Wildlife Federation, an active member of the Wetlands Stewardship Partnership, has brought together a team of well-known experts to share their knowledge and experience. “Local governments have extensive authority to keep wetlands wet and functioning as integral parts of regional ecosystems. Through land use and regulatory power local governments can protect, restore and enhance wetland health as a key piece of the green infrastructure map,” states Deborah Curran.

“The program came about through a fortunate confluence of personalities, interests and skills – it is not something that a community can necessarily just decide to do, and presto, it happens. Remove any one of the individuals or organizations who played roles in the process, and North Delta’s school and community rain gardens either would not have happened at all, or would have been much less successful,” stated Deborah Jones.