Rainwater Management

Integrated Rainwater Management: Move to a Levels-of-Service Approach to Sustainable Drainage Infrastructure

January 22, 2011 - Posted in in 2011, Leading Change, Uncategorised

Note to Readers:

During the November-December 2010 period, the Water Sustainability Action Plan for British Columbia released a series of five articles that are designed to inform local governments and others about a ‘course correction’ for Integrated Stormwater Management Plans (ISMPs).

In January 2011, Asset Management BC published an article that was adapted from the fourth in the series. The article elaborated on the ‘infrastructure deficit’ (i.e. ‘infrastructure liability’) as a driver for the ISMP Course Correction. To download the article, click here.

Embrace a Level-of-Service Approach

‘Level-of-Service’ is the integrator for everything that local governments do. What level of service does a community wish to provide, and what level can it afford? Everyone will have to make level-of-service choices. Thus, a guiding principle could be framed this way:

Establish the level-of-service that is sustainable to protect watershed health, and then work backwards to determine how to achieve that level of protection and level of drainage service.

A watershed-based plan that is outcome-oriented is a vehicle for local government to strategically connect the dots between land use planning, development and infrastructure standards, and infrastructure asset management. And by ‘designing with nature’, a local government could make a very strong case for having a higher level of service, at a lower life-cycle cost, with ‘assets’ that appreciate, not depreciate.

Our WORD Choice Says It All

Wally wells (120p) - asset management bc “People ‘hear’ the word ‘deficit’ and assume the accountants will fix it all. But people ‘listen’ to the word ‘liability’ and often ask questions or realize some action is necessary,” states Wally Wells, Coordinator for Asset Management BC.