Category:

“We can begin to think about the Tenth Paradigm as one involving making decisions aimed at achieving healthy urban watersheds,” wrote Robert Hicks. “Deciding what we want means we start with a common understanding and a shared vision of the future Target Condition for a healthy watershed. Having a Target Condition provides a direction for the long-term processes of change. An Action Plan then provides a ‘road map’ for getting there over time. This ‘road map’ approach addresses the goal of protecting people, natural systems and property; and then over time striving to move impacted watersheds towards a healthier condition.”

“Experience has taught engineers that we must always be learning, stretching the bounds of expertise, and anticipating new requirements,” wrote Jim Dumont. “We will be able to advance the science and engineering practice in a manner intended by the author and proponents of the Guidebook. Is it time to now go ‘Beyond the Guidebook’? Do we have the knowledge to allow us to do this? The answer to both questions should be yes.”

“Beyond the Guidebook is an ongoing initiative to provide local governments and practitioners with tools, resources and understanding to integrate the Site with the Watershed and the Stream,” explains Kim Stephens. “Since 2007, the Beyond the Guidebook initiative has been building on the technical foundation created a decade ago when the Province and Environment Canada jointly released Stormwater Planning: A Guidebook for British Columbia.”

“An interface is needed to translate the complex products of science into achievable goals and implementable solution for practical resource management. This interface is what we now call a science-based understanding,” stated Peter Law. “Understanding how land development impacts watershed hydrology and the functions of aquatic ecosystems provides a solid basis for making decisions to guide action where and when it is most needed.”

BC local governments are sharing and learning from each other. Water balance tools and case study experience are in place. Local governments can move beyond traditional infrastructure asset management thinking to account for watershed systems as infrastructure assets. Beyond the Guidebook 2015 is a deliverable flowing from the Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Educational Initiative. It is a progress report on how local governments are ‘learning by doing’ to implement affordable and effective science-based practices. It is the third in a series that builds on “Stormwater Planning: A Guidebook for British Columbia”.

“The ‘convening for action’ initiative is the best example of peer driven innovation that I have ever seen. It has led to nothing less than a quiet revolution in how we approach the design and construction of human settlements in British Columbia. We understood that we were going to have to do cities quite differently if we wanted to achieve the sustainability goals that we had set for ourselves.It was my job to implement regional growth management. We had not done something like that before. It was much more than pure land use planning,” stated Dale Wall.

“Beyond the Guidebook 2015 is a milestone accomplishment. The Partnership for Water Sustainability’s efforts to bring together five regional districts—Metro Vancouver, Capital Region, Cowichan Region, Nanaimo Region and Comox Valley—to implement the Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Educational Initiative (IREI) has been particularly successful. The next phase of the IREI program through 2017 will add to Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery: A BC Framework and integrate watershed systems thinking and adaptation to a changing climate into asset management,” wrote Wes Shoemaker.

“One of my purposes in meeting with municipal staff representatives on a regional committee was to provide them with context and perspective for three landmark initiatives that came to fruition in 2014, namely: Water Sustainability Act, Develop with Care, and Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery. Together the three provide a platform for integrated and coordinated actions to protect watershed health. The goal is sustainable watershed systems. In a nutshell, this requires a change in thinking to restore hydrologic integrity after a watershed is developed,” stated Kim Stephens.

“Implementation of asset management along with the associated evolution of local government thinking is a continuous quality improvement process, not a discrete task. This led us to the concept of a continuum. The relevance of this way of thinking is that different local governments will always be at different points and different levels of maturity along the asset management continuum. This is why we focus on outcomes and do not prescribe what to do in BC,” wrote Ray Fung.

“Metro Vancouver is a founding partner regional district in the Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Educational Initiative. Inter-regional sharing and cross-pollination of experiences helps everyone protect watershed health. Since September 2011, Kim Stephens has been meeting with the Metro Vancouver Utilities Committee to provide us with updates. The focus of his recent presentation was on Beyond the Guidebook 2015. connection between watershed health goals and municipal land development practices, and the value to local government from taking an asset management approach,” stated Darrell Mussatto.