“Farmers are saying it is not the big storms that cause them problems. Rather, it is all the little storms. All the water from the uplands is just enough that the farmers cannot get on their land and plant or harvest their crops,” stated Ted van der Gulik.
“An ISMP is a potentially powerful tool to achieve a vision for ‘green’ development, one that protects stream health, fish habitat and fish; and anticipates climate change. Local governments now have a decade of experience from which to extract lessons learned,” states Kim Stephens.
“Interception loss plays an important role in controlling the water balance of a watershed, especially where urban development has taken place. The aim of the research project was to illustrate the importance of urban trees as a form of ‘green infrastructure’ where they reduce rainwater runoff and rainwater intensity. In addition, trees cause a delay in precipitation reaching the ground,” stated Dr. Markus Weiler. Interception losses calculated for urban trees were approximately twice as great as those calculated for trees within natural forest stands.
“The change is here, and it is accelerating. Local governments have an opportunity to adapt and mitigate these changes and improve resiliency of communities within existing legislative authority and current best practices,” states Kim Fowler.
Stan Westby (120p) – Powell River CAO
ISMP Course Correction Series – Story #4 in December 2010
Asset management usually commences after something is built. The challenge is to think about what asset management entails BEFORE the asset is built. What level does a community wish to provide, and what level can it afford.
VICT is a grassroots coordinating team with representation from various jurisdictions and disciplines across Vancouver Island. Beyond building partnerships and strengthening local sustainability initiatives, VICT’s goal is to build local capacity for change.
“An essential part of the plan for ensuring the long-term sustainability of the Water Balance Model is the creation of a legal entity where the tool will reside permanently. This action has now been completed,” reports Ted van der Gulik. “Formation of the society is a pivotal milestone in the history of the WBM. Over the years, various people have asked us who owns the WBM. Now when we answer ‘the Partnership owns it’, it will be crystal clear to everyone.”
“The WBM embeds land use zoning from municipal member partners, soil calculator and a new calculation engine QUALHYMO utilizing the Environment Canada climate data that includes rainfall, snow, temperature and evaporation. The easy access and calculation speed combined with the embedded data and information allows the user to easily and effectively plan and design green infrastructure techniques which will achieve the vision and objectives established for the Site, the Development, or Watershed,” stated Jim Dumont.
“These days we’re all hearing about ‘Green’, but few people realize to be really ‘Green’ you must be ‘Blue’ too! Nature has designed a partnership between land (‘Green’) and water (‘Blue’) where each benefits the other.” stated Peter MacDonagh.
“Our Ministries decided to align our efforts and collaborate with DFO because we believe this will enable us to be collectively more effective in achieving desirable rainwater management outcomes,” stated Jay Bradley.
