Category:

“Rain gardens have ecological importance, and are a standard requirement for all developments in the City of North Vancouver. In addition, all of our major transportation projects incorporate rain gardens. A single rain garden will not make a material difference to conditions in our creeks. But 1000 rain gardens would be a different story. These will take time to implement. The process will be incremental,” states Mayor Darrell Mussatto.

“It is about looking for simpler methods to determine if there is a problem that needs detailed analysis. It is not, and never was, intended to be a replacement for detailed analyses. It should be seen as an intermediary step in the assessment process that also happens to include the opportunity to provide a look at how climate change will affect the drainage system,” said Jim Dumont.

“Through our years of research and advocacy on water management issues, we realized that there was something of a disconnect between information and action. Rain Ready seeks to close that gap by making it easier for homeowners, businesses, and government leaders to create Rain Ready plans,” said Harriet Festing. The Rain Ready website features videos and how-to factsheets that show rain readiness in action.

“The change is here, and it is accelerating. Local governments have an opportunity to adapt and mitigate these changes and improve resiliency of communities within existing legislative authority and current best practices,” states Kim Fowler.

The project, “Storm Water Goes Green: Investigating the Benefit and Health of Urban Trees in Green Infrastructure Installations,” will study the impact of trees on storm water management. “There is a critical need to understand the role of trees in urban areas in terms of natural storm water treatment. The knowledge we gain will allow planners and engineers to better understand how to control floodwaters naturally,” said Jon Hathaway.

“It is becoming increasingly apparent that conventional stormwater drainage systems are ill prepared to deal with increasing rain events and a drastically changed land surface. The questions that needs to be asked is how can we deal with this new reality and how do we change the traditional stormwater management system to cope with more frequent and higher flood events?”, wrote Dr. Hans Schreier.

“To our knowledge, Minnesota is one of the first states, if not the first, to add a chapter on trees to its manual, as well as add analysis on the stormwater benefits of tree and soil systems. While trees have always provided stormwater benefits, they are just recently starting to be recognized by regulators as viable stormwater control measures. Cities, states and homeowners are taking notice,” said Nathalie Shanstrom.

Mayors are looking for alternatives to traditional infrastructure projects that will be cost-effective and provide amenities. “When a city incorporates natural infrastructure into its planning, it turns to living assets such as urban trees, wetlands, and watersheds to reduce pollutants and provide protection from storms and hurricanes. So effective is the strategy that the US Conference of Mayors approved a resolution that encourages its members to start building green bulwarks against climate change,” wrote Hannah Hoag.

Mayor Rob Hutchins moved the motion that “the Water Balance Web Tool and supporting documents be shared with the CVRD and partner municipal planning staff; and further, that planning staff consider integrating the tool into the planning framework to support watershed management objectives at the Official Community Plan level and Development Permit level.”

“Bowker Creek is provincially significant and precedent-setting. It is also inspirational. In my 40-year career as a professional engineer, there is nothing that equals it. And the reason it is so important is that it gave the rest of us a vision of what can be. The experience of what this region has done is informing others, from Metro Vancouver all the way up to the Comox Valley,” stated Kim Stephens.