FLASHBACK TO 2007: At Water Balance Model Partners Forum, Ted van der Gulik stated that use of the tool demonstrates how to achieve a light hydrologic footprint
Note to Reader:
In March 2007, the Inter-Governmental Partnership held a Water Balance Model Partners Forum in March 2007 so that Partners could share success stories and lessons learned in implementing green infrastructure.
Hosted by the Greater Vancouver Regional District, the Partners Forum also 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.
Natural Systems Approach to Rainwater Management
“The Water Balance Model has emerged as the rainwater management tool of choice in making land development decisions that meet the test of being sustainable, affordable and achievable,” stated Ted van der Gulik when he welcomed local government representatives to the Water Balance Model Partners Forum. Ted van der Gulik is the Senior Engineer in the BC Ministry of Agriculture & Lands. He is Chair of the Inter-Governmental Partnership (IGP) that developed the Water Balance Model.
“Because it demonstrates how to achieve a light hydrologic footprint, the Water Balance Model helps practitioners wrap their minds around how to implement ‘green solutions’. Because the vision of the IGP is to promote changes in land development practices, the Water Balance Model can be described as a means to an end.”
Beyond the Guidebook
“The Water Balance Model was developed as an extension of Stormwater Planning: A Guidebook for British Columbia. Released in 2002, the Guidebook set in motion a chain of outcomes that has resulted in British Columbia being recognized internationally as a leader in implementing a natural systems approach to rainwater management in the urban environment,” continued Ted van der Gulik.
“The concepts and methodologies in the Guidebook were intended to stimulate a change in the mindset of practitioners and others, rather than cast in stone a set of prescriptive rules”, added the Ministry of Environment’s Peter Law, Chair of the inter-governmental Steering Committee that was responsible for Guidebook development.
“To benefit from lessons learned on-the-ground over the last five years, the Water Balance Model Partnership began the rollout of an initiative called Beyond the Guidebook in mid-2006”, continued Kim Stephens (Program Coordinator, Water Sustainability Action Plan for British Columbia) informed attendees at the Partners Forum, “The purpose of this initiative is to help local governments and the development community establish what level of rainwater runoff volume reduction makes sense at the site, catchment and watershed scales.”
To Learn More:
To read the complete and comprehensive story about the 2007 Forum, click on Inter-Governmental Partnership Rolls Out ‘Beyond the Guidebook’ at Water Balance Model Forum
