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“Interflow is often the dominant drainage path in glaciated landscapes of British Columbia. Even undeveloped sites founded on till and bedrock rarely show overland flow because of interflow pathways. The lesson is that the interflow system is an incredibly important and yet fragile component of a watershed. It is critical for maintaining stream health and our fishery resource,” states Al Jonsson of DFO.

“The pioneering work of Richard Horner and Chris May provided a science-based understanding of the importance of ‘changes in hydrology’. The stream health findings by Horner and May gave us a springboard to reinvent urban hydrology. Their work yielded guiding principles that are standing the test of time,” states Peter Law.

“We need to understand the sub-systems that are in play between the time that rainfall is received at the top of the tree canopy and the time that it actually gets to the stream as streamflow or other kinds of releases. THAT’S THE KEY TO THE WHOLE SYSTEMS APPROACH,” states Will Marsh.

“A key feature of planned development at Burke Mountain is a low impact, ‘natural systems approach’ to stormwater management,” stated Don Moore in 2004. “To support this objective, Wesbild has developed a manual that will serve as both a policy statement and a practical guide. Our goal is to integrate practical strategies to naturally balance rainwater volume and reduce runoff from our developed land.”

“The results showed that urban trees intercept and evapotranspire more rain than trees in forested environments. Together with the delay in runoff trees can act as an effective rainwater management tool on individual properties,” stated Yeganeh Asadian. “We applied a unique methodology for measuring rain/throughfall under 54 different urban trees using a system of PVC pipes hung beneath the canopy to capture the throughfall where it drained into a rain gauge attached to a data logger.”

“Interception loss plays an important role in controlling the water balance of a watershed, especially where urban development has taken place. The aim of the research project was to illustrate the importance of urban trees as a form of ‘green infrastructure’ where they reduce rainwater runoff and rainwater intensity. In addition, trees cause a delay in precipitation reaching the ground,” stated Dr. Markus Weiler. Interception losses calculated for urban trees were approximately twice as great as those calculated for trees within natural forest stands.

“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.

“In integrating actions at four scales, the intended purpose is to provide a clear picture of how local governments can be proactive in applying land use planning tools to protect property and aquatic habitat, while at the same time accommodating land development and population growth,” states Kim Stephens.

“The Neighbourhood Concept Plan (NCP) established rainfall capture objectives to maintaining the predevelopment runoff rates and volumes. The clay soils and limited infiltration rates drove innovation in both the calculation methods and the design details to allow the volumetric runoff coefficient to be maintained in both single family and multi-family sites,” states Jim Dumont.

“The intended purpose of an ISMP is to provide a clear picture of how local governments can be proactive in applying land use planning tools to protect property watershed health, while at the same time accommodating land development and population growth,” states Ray Fung.