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“The Water Balance Methodology now synthesizes fundamentals of hydrology, flood protection, aquatic ecology, geomorphology and hydrogeology,” stated Jim Dumont. “The flow-duration relationship is the cornerstone of the methodology. By maintaining flow-duration, stream erosion is not increased during wet weather and ‘environmental flows’ are sustained during dry weather. We integrated Flow-Duration Analysis in 2007. Washington State and California have gone a step further and mandated use of Flow-Duration Analysis in 2012 and 2015, respectively.

“At Washington State University, I study urban stormwater runoff and its impacts on aquatic animals. The really exciting thing about the research that we are doing, and the results we are getting, is that it gives people hope. We chose to work with road runoff because roads are the common denominator across all urban land uses,” states Jennifer McIntyre. “We don’t need to know everything about how toxic runoff is, or how it causes toxicity, to be able to do something about the problem. To date, the experimental results are pretty impressive for 100% fish survival.”

“Unless and until land development practices mimic the natural water balance, communities cannot expect to restore the biological communities within streams. Simply put, hydrology hits first and hardest – one could pour an equivalent volume of distilled water into a stream, and the consequences for stream health would be the same as if it was urban runoff,” stated Richard Horner. “So many studies manipulate a single variable out of context with the whole and its many additional variables.”

Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is a combination of two other significant concepts: EBM (ecosystem-based management) and climate change adaptation. The evaluation framework developed by Julia Berry provides rainwater and adaptation planners with an overview of EbA that can be used to assess and score the extent to which provincial, regional or municipal documents incorporate EbA principles. The value of her work is that it connects current research to past approaches that have been fallow for more than a decade,” stated Kim Stephens.