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“We knew more than 20 years ago what we needed to do when designing residential communities, but local governments generally failed to act. Turning the situation around is SIMPLE when you understand hydrology. And when you understand the kinds of changes needed in development practices, and the differences they would make, property to neighhourhood to watershed. We are saying there is a way of designing communities and making decisions differently so that you can be restorative in nature within the urban development context,” stated Richard Boase.

“Part of urban renaturing is a restorative exercise, a way to reinstate balance and sustainability to the city’s relationship with nature,” wrote Peter Pastrik. “When cities renature themselves, they pursue three distinct, interrelated applications of the idea. They expand the use of green infrastructure. They protect and enhance ecosystems and biodiversity. And they provide people with ways to immerse in nature. Each of these methods involves innovative practices used at multiple urban scales.”

The county is developing a plan to supply 20% of annual water demand from rainwater capture. “Going forward, every street improvement initiative should be viewed as an opportunity for greener streets that facilitate water absorption and ensure that remaining runoff is treated. New park projects should include ways of capturing runoff on site for local irrigation or to augment groundwater supplies. With funding from Measure W to supplement existing funds, these goals now seem possible,” wrote Mark Gold.

“Released circa 1993, Stream Stewardship: A Guide for Planners and Developers document was an early, and in some respects the first, local government focussed design with nature guide,” recalled Erik Karlsen. “Looking back, if the Stewardship Series was the first wave, the work of UBC’s James Taylor Chair on Sustainable Urban Landscapes was the second, and the Water Balance Approach is the third. Each of these ‘waves’ was initiated by different ‘groups’; but over time they merged from one to the other.”

The purpose of the Primer on Rainwater Management in an Urban Watershed Context is to provide engineers and non-engineers with a common understanding of how a science-based approach to rainwater management has evolved since the mid-1990s. “Two decades ago, ground-breaking research by Richard Horner and Chris May in Washington State identified limiting factors for stream health, and established an order-of-priority. Their findings provided a road map for integrated rainwater management,” stated Peter Law.

“People often think of urban landscapes as concrete dystopias, but the future may reside in cities that can sustain both people and nature,” wrote John Lieber. “Urban areas have a bad rep when it comes to their relationship the environment. So much so that people generally consider cities to be the opposite of nature. But our perception of urban life is changing. Much has been done to educate and engage the greater public. In turn we’ve been able see cities in a new light.”

When the SmartStorm Forum Series introduced the term 'smart development' in 1999, the goal was to advance implementation of an integrated and balanced approach to land use. “The response to the SmartStorm Forum Series was simply overwhelming,” recalls Barry Janyk, “For the first event, held in Nanaimo, the doors had to be closed when the surge of last-minute registrations reached the seating capacity of the venue. When we decided to host the second event on the Sunshine Coast, the skeptics asked me who would come to the Sunshine Coast. Well, they did come and they came from far and wide, including Ontario.”

“When we address stormwater management by investing in green infrastructure solutions, we are also able to address other pressing issues in our communities, such as the urban heat island effect which contributes to air quality pollution, the need for employment, access to food, and the unhealthy lack of green space,” wrote Steven Peck. “In many cases, green infrastructure can also deliver value by offsetting or right sizing the use of grey infrastructure.”

“The WBM embeds land use zoning from municipal member partners, soil calculator and a new calculation engine QUALHYMO utilizing the Environment Canada climate data that includes rainfall, snow, temperature and evaporation. The easy access and calculation speed combined with the embedded data and information allows the user to easily and effectively plan and design green infrastructure techniques which will achieve the vision and objectives established for the Site, the Development, or Watershed,” stated Jim Dumont.

“UBC-Okanagan is pleased to have provided the venue for this application of sustainability-on-the-ground. This sponsorship opportunity was an outcome of a meeting with the Chair of the Inter-Governmental Partnership (IGP), at which time we realized that UBC-Okanagan and the IGP shared a common objective in advancing the state-of-the-art for water management in the Okanagan,” stated Bernard Bauer, Dean ot the Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences.