The West Glendover Stormwater Improvement Project in Lexington, Kentucky is an unusal project that resulted from extraordinary cooperation on the part of all parties involved. Locating a rainwater/stormwater project in an arboretum stopped flooding to nearby homes, enhanced the arboretum's collection of plants, and allowed the public to see a large-scale rain garden.
Rain gardens sound exotic, but they are really a low-tech way to help rain soak in where it falls, replenishing water supplies and reducing pollution in waterways. Roof gardens, on the other hand, have the same goals, but are something you should not try at home without the help of experts. Marcus de la fleur has installed both on his property in the City of Elmhurst, a Chicago suburb.
According to Kevin Lagan, the Wal-Mart development in the City of Courtenay precipitated the beginning of a major change in how the City administers the zoning/development/approval process, collaborates with other agencies and also manages the rainwater resource.
The City of Courtenay was the first BC municipality to adopt a policy requiring developers to provide a minimum soil depth on building sites as a rainwater management tool. “The challenge for the City is in how to ensure that developers and house builders fulfil their obligations to provide and preserve the minimum required depth,” stated Sandy Pridmore.
Peter Nilsen (160p)
Within the Cowichan Valley Regional District, there are five local government jurisdictions. A consistent message regarding rainwater management and green infrastructure expectations is an essential element of a regional team approach.
In November 2007, the Capital Regional District hosted a full-day workshop titled Bio/Infiltration: Tools for Rainwater Management. The workshop featured case studies from both sides of the Georgia Basin, thereby facilitating a sharing of experiences
View Royal’s Highway Improvement Project will provide more travel choices that will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other vehicle emissions. The project also uses innovative technology to treat the stormater/rainwater runoff, improving the natural habitat of Portage Inlet and Esquimalt Harbour.
The City of Surrey has been quietly plugging away at finding an answer to one of today’s most important questions in urban rainwater management: ‘How can we accommodate forecasted growth while achieving community liveability, urban stream health and environmental protection outcomes at a watershed scale.’
From its inception in 1992, the City of Langford embraced a philosophy of managing risk and learning by doing. This has become the corporate culture. The Langford experience is a case study application of how to implement Adaptive Management as envisioned in Stormwater Planning: A Guidebook for British Columbia.
In the City of Nanaimo, placing the emphasis on maintaining ‘flow characteristics’has facilitated implementation of a water balance way-of-designing on-lot measures for rainwater runoff volume reduction.
