When UniverCity hosted the third event in Showcasing Green Infrastructure Innovation in Metro Vancouver: The 2007 Series, this provided an opportunity to elaborate on the strategy for reducing the 'hydrologic footprint' of this high density community.
“In Washington State, we cannot achieve environmental protection using current methods of development,” bemoaned Ed O’Brien, “Not many new developments are applying low impact development techniques. There isn’t a land use dictator who can demand change. It will take public education to instill a culture change for us to have any hope that we can protect aquatic resources in the urban environment.”
The projected growth of the Metro Vancouver region and resulting cumulative impacts are drivers for reassessing how land is developed and water is used. To promote a new way-of-thinking related to infrastructure policies and practices, the Green Infrastructure Partnership has organized Showcasing Green Infrastructure Innovation in Greater Vancouver: The 2007 Series.
The Water Balance Model Partners Forum hosted by the Greater Vancouver Regional District in March 2007 provided a timely opportunity to roll out ‘Beyond the Guidebook', a runoff-based approach to drainage modeling that connects the dots between source control evaluation and stream health assessment.
The District of West Vancouver has constructed its first green lane adjacent to St. Francis in the Woods Church in historic Lower Caulfeild.
The University of British Columbia has implemented the world's first closed-loop system integrating rainwater runoff, wastewater treatment and ground source heating, and a small-scale biodiesel production unit which will transform waste cooking oil into a clean-burning fuel.
