Rainwater Management

BEYOND THE GUIDEBOOK 2022 / PART B: “We eventually concluded that operationalizing asset management would involve four separate, interconnected initiatives that would be the pathway for our journey toward Sustainable Service Delivery. They coalesced into what we locally refer to as The 4C’s – Collaboration, Capacity, Culture, and Council,” stated David Allen, retired Chief Administrative Officer, City of Courtenay

Note to Reader:

In June 2022, the Partnership for Water Sustainability released the 4^th in the Beyond the Guidebook Series. Titled Synthesis Report on the Ecological Accounting Process, a BC Strategy for Community Investment in Stream Systems, it showcases collaboration in action. EAP methodology and metrics allow local governments to make a convincing financial case for annual investment in stream systems to reduce the Riparian Deficit.

DOWNLOAD A COPY OF Part B – Story Behind the Story of Sustainable Drainage Service Delivery. It introduce the reader to core concepts for sustainable funding of the ‘drainage service’ in the built environment,

Part B is structured in five sections:1) Context for Applying EAP to Establish the ‘Financial Case for Stream Systems’; 2) Intergenerational Perspective for a ‘Local Government Finance Strategy’; 3) ‘Drainage Service’ has two Components: Constructed and Natural; 4) Operationalizing EAP within Asset Management; and 5),Urban Watersheds as Infrastructure Assets

‘Sustainable Service Delivery’ Explained

Glen Brown coined the term sustainable service delivery in 2010 when he was an Executive Director with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs. Formal branding came with release of Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery: A BC Framework in December 2014, and rollout in 2015. The emphasis on service is a game-changer for local government infrastructure asset management.

At that time, and thanks to the early work of the then newly formed Asset Management BC, chaired by Glen Brown, local governments were just starting to wrap their minds around the ‘20/80 Rule’ and the implications of the 80% as an unfunded liability.

A Synthesis of Three Ideas

“During a curriculum planning session for a local government workshop organized by the Partnership for Water Sustainability, Glen Brown synthesized three themes – financial accountability, infrastructure sustainability, service delivery – into a single easy to remember phrase: Sustainable Service Delivery. The rest is history, as they say,” recalled Kim Stephens, Partnership Executive Director.

The 4Cs for Sustainable Service Delivery: Collaboration, Capacity, Culture & Council

“After becoming CAO of Courtenay, BC in 2013, we began exploring how to implement an Asset Management Program at the City. Collaborating with external agencies opened our minds to thinking of AM practices in far broader terms, so that they might be applied in any community, regardless of size,” states David Allen.

“We didn’t realize it, at the time, but it led to us eventually conclude that operationalizing AM would involve four separate, interconnected initiatives that would be the pathway for our journey toward Sustainable Service Delivery. They coalesced into what we locally refer to as The 4C’s – Collaboration, Capacity, Culture, and Council.”

To Learn More:

To read the complete Synthesis Report, download a copy of Ecological Accounting Process, A B.C. Strategy for Community Investment in Stream Systems (2022) .

The “story of EAP” is told in six parts. To download them individually, click on the links:

Financial Case for the Stream – Executive Summary

Part A – Synopsis for the Busy Reader

Part B – Story Behind the Story of Sustainable Drainage Service Delivery

Part C – Case Study Building Blocks Process

Part D – Hydrology is the Engine that Powers Ecological Services

Part E – A Stream is a Land Use