Controlled Subject Index provides indexed access to Rainwater Management web-based resources
There are two primary ways that users can access resources that are contained within this Rainwater Management community-of-interest (COI): either by reviewing the Menu Dropdown (above) which provides the storyline for the COI; or by searching the comprehensive Controlled Subject Index (below).
The combination of these two ways means that there are actually multiple opportunities to find a particular story, reflecting the likelihood that different individuals will approach a search for information from different directions.
Controlled Subject Index
The Controlled Subject Index provides users with convenient, indexed access to stories and resources that are contained in the Rainwater Management Online Library. When a resource is added to the library, it is categorized against an index that comprises five ways of classifying the resource, namely:
Users can click on any one of the above Subject Categories to browse the available resources. A subject in gray text indicates that no resources are presently categorized under the heading, and a number denotes the number of resources tagged into that category. Links without a number have resources 'beneath' them in the heirarchy of subjects.
Each of the five categories listed above have a myriad of sub-categories, further increasing the number of combinations and permutations for finding a particular resource.
Rainwater Management Storyline
The technical vocabulary in British Columbia is in transition, and is being simplified so that there will be a clearer public understanding of source control options for capturing rain where it falls. Furthermore, drainage practitioners are advancing the design of green infrastructure so that cumulative benefits rather than cumulative impacts can accrue over time.
Changing the language is part and parcel of implementing 'integrated solutions' that are landscape-based, and are guided by this principle:
- The way land is developed determines how water is used, and how water runs off the land.
Traditional 'stormwater' had a narrow scope: it was event-baed and only considered a handful of runoff events that might occur in a given year. In contrast, contemporary 'rainwater management':
- has a broad scope and accounts for all the rainfall-days that occur each year; and
- encompasses both water use and rainwater runoff.
There has been a change in thinking among drainage practitioners, and the technical language is in transition. This change has seen the single function view of traditional 'stormwater management' give way to the integrated and comprehensive perspective that is captured by the term 'rainwater management'. Stormwater suggests there is a problem, whereas rainwater is a resource.
Desired rainwater management outcomes include using less irrigation water and reducing rainwater runoff.
Posted December 2007