Beyond the Guidebook 2010: Rollout concluded at the "From Rain to Resource Workshop", hosted by the Okanagan Basin Water Board (Oct)
Note to Reader:
In October 2010, the 2-day From Rain to Resource Workshop: Managing Stormwater in a Changing Climate brought together twenty-two expert speakers and panellists and over 100 delegates from across British Columbia. Delegates included mayors and councillors, administrative staff, planners, engineers and consultants from around the province.
Approximately half the audience came from the Okanagan/Interior. The other half came from the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.
Held in Kelowna, the event was hosted by the Okanagan Basin Water Board (OBWB), with funding support through Natural Resources Canada’s Regional Adaptation Collaboratives Program (RAC).
Okanagan Workshop Showcased ‘Beyond the Guidebook 2010′
The majority of the workshop presentations were delivered by members of the “convening for action” partnership network, and were about case studies that are featured in Beyond the Guidebook 2010, in particular:
- the experiences of these ‘convening for action’ partners: City of Surrey, District of North Vancouver, City of Courtenay, Capital Regional District, Metro Vancouver; and
- these tools and resources: the Water Balance Model, the Topsoil Primer Set.
These “convening for action” case studies were supplemented by several other examples of innovative approaches to rainwater management, including presentations about experience in the BC Interior (e.g. City of Prince George) and within the Capital Region (Douglas Creek Watershed).
Why ‘From Rain to Resource 2010’?
“We spent the last half a century trying to control runoff with dikes, storm sewers, curbs and gutters. Now, increased development and increased storm intensity from climate change are increasing peak flows and altering the rules of the game. We can’t engineer away our problems fast enough, and have to look at other, lower impact solutions,” stated Anna Warwick Sears, Executive Director, Okanaga Basin Water 
Board in providing context for the decision to organize From Rain to Resource 2010.
“The Okanagan is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of unmanaged stormwater and rainwater because all surface water flows into the lake system that runs along the bottom of the valley—and that lake is a primary drinking water source.”
“Many positive and innovative developments in rainwater and stormwater management have not yet been introduced in Okanagan municipalities and rural areas. This workshop was held to highlight the importance of rainwater management to climate change adaptation and to showcase examples from other areas that could be applied to the Okanagan.”
To Learn More:
Visit the homepage for From Rain to Resource: Managing Stormwater in a Changing Climate
Creating Our Future: Focus on Outcomes
“
Released in June, Beyond the Guidebook 2010: Implementing a New Culture for Urban Watershed Protection and Restoration in British Columbia demonstrates that the practitioner culture is changing as an outcome of collaboration, partnerships and alignment; and provides local governments with ‘how to’ guidance for developing outcome-oriented urban watershed plans,” states Ted van der Gulik, Chair of the Inter-Governmental Partnership that developed and is responsible for the Water Balance Model.
The web-based Water Balance Model is an example of a planning and engineering tool that can help communities reduce their ‘water footprint’. Winner of a Premier’s Award for Innovation and Excellence in 2009, the Water Balance Model is a unique tool. It was developed in BC through an inter-governmental partnership, supports Living Water Smart and the Green Communities Initiative.
To Learn More:
Ted van der Gulik represented the “convening for action” partners in speaking to ‘Beyond the Guidebook 2010′. Download a PDF copy of his PowerPoint presentation slides: Beyond the Guidebook 20101: Implementing a New Culture for Watershed Protection and Restoration in British Columbia.
Links to YouTube Video Clips
A set of video clips are posted on YouTube. These are typically about a minute or so in length, correspond to the slides in the Beyond the Guidebook 2010 storyline, and capture what Ted van der Gulik had to say. To learn more:
In the 21st Century, Much Will Depend on Getting the Choices Right (1:08)
Land Development and Water: The Practitioner Ethic is Changing (1:10)
Beyond the Guidebook 2010 Connects the Dots and Builds on Guidebook Foundation (1:22)
Convening for Action in BC is Cross-Fertilizing Seven Regional Initiatives (1:26)
Experience Shows that Success will Follow When Local Governments….(1:33)
Topsoil and Water Sustainability: Interface between Drought Management and RAINwater Management (1:12)
Web-Based Provincial Tools Enable Water-Centric Planning and Living Water Smart (1:27)
RAINwater Management is Integrated and Holistic; Stormwater Management is Narrow (0:48)
The Approach to Building Leadership Capacity is Bottom-Up (0:34)