“The goal of Water Smart is to develop a regional approach to water conservation by providing support and tools to Basin communities. Water Smart will allow Basin communities to benefit from shared resources, expertise and learning to achieve their community specific water conservation targets,” said Kindy Gosal.
“Water Bucket averages over 10,000 per month page views per month. The most popular COI is Rainwater Management with a 22% share. In second place is the Green Infrastructure COI at 19%. It is the communication vehicle for the Green Infrastructure Partnership,” states Mike Tanner.
“In British Columbia, we are watching with interest to see how green infrastructure legislative initiatives play out federally in the United States. The American experience provides a frame of reference for comparing the effectiveness of a top-down regulatory approach with the 'bottom-up' educational approach in British Columbia,” states Raymond Fung.
“Beyond the Guidebook 2010 is outcome-oriented. When the right people with the right knowledge are involved at the right time to apply informed judgment in a collaborative process, the outcome-oriented approach saves time and money,” stated John Finnie at the ‘Dialogue in Nanaimo’.
The goal is to turn local governments on to the practical reality that designing with nature holds out hope for communities and cities to function better, to our lasting benefit. “As the leaders appointed to design the Sustainable Region Initiative, we view you as critical partners in affecting positive change with regard to infrastructure design in the region,” stated Mayor Goldsmith-Jones.
“Conserving the existing, improving or adding ‘topsoil’ to a site is one means of achieving on-site source control of rainwater. Adequate depth of good quality topsoil on new or existing (re)developments has many benefits. Upping absorbency, the topsoil layer assists community rainwater management infiltration objectives and supports strategies to conserve water which may be in scarce supply,” states John Sidnell.
The 'Law & Policy' and 'Technical' primers are built on the experience the Green Infrastructure Partnership has gained, since 2004, in promoting green infrastructure approaches to development in BC. “Topsoil is the interface between rainwater management and drought management. Soil depth creates a sponge,” says Ray Fung.
“We realized there could be a benefit to providing municipal staff and the professional design community with a succinct statement of all of the legal, policy and technical ‘essential elements’ necessary to successfully implement a specific green infrastructure objective,” states Susan Rutherford.
