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“A decade ago, we thought that the best we could do would be to Hold the Line for 20 years; and if we could do that for 20 years, we believed that we might be able to improve conditions over a 50-year period,” stated Kim Stephens. “We went back to the basics to gain an understanding of how we could protect or restore the natural water balance by changing the way land is developed. A decade ago, the breakthrough in thinking came when we developed the concept of a Rainfall Spectrum to categorize the rainfall-days that occur each year.”

“We are using the slogan The New Business As Usual to convey the message that, for change to really occur, practices that until now have been viewed as the exception must become the norm moving forward. We have to build regulatory models and develop models of practice and expertise,” stated Dale Wall, Deputy Minister.

“In 2002, ‘Stormwater Planning: A Guidebook for British Columbia’ articulated a principle that performance targets at the watershed scale provide a starting point to guide the actions of local government in the right direction,” stated Kim Stephens. “The objective is to translate those targets into appropriate site design criteria that then provide local government staff and developers with practical guidance for achieving the goal of stream protection.”

The article provides a concise overview of considerations that have led to integration of two hydrologic models. “The tool underpins ‘Beyond the Guidebook: The New Business As Usual (2007)’, a provincial initiative to advance implementation of green infrastructure policies and practices throughout British Columbia. The mantra for this provincial initiative is: Today’s Expectations are Tomorrow’s Standards,” stated Paul Ham.

The Inter-Governmental Partnership announced the conclusion of an intensive verification/validation process, and the uploading of an updated Water Balance Model web interface – thereby restoring full functionality of the model. “The longer than anticipated Beta-testing period has had a silver lining in that numerous additional refinements have been incorporated in the web interface,” stated Ted van der Gulik.

“The MOU formalizes a relationship that dates back to September 2004 when BC participation in the Okotoks LID Conference was the catalyst for a number of Alberta agencies coming together to form the ALIDP,” stated Doug Marter (City of Calgary), ALIDP Chair. “Under the umbrella of the Inter-Provincial Partnership, we can pool resources with other provinces and add to the capabilities of the Water Balance Model powered by QUALHYMO.”

“The case study applications built a common understanding of how to achieve runoff-based performance targets for rainwater management and green infrastructure,” stated Rob Conway. “What is unique about our approach is the educational context. Willing owners/developers and their planning/design consultants volunteered to develop and share the case studies. It truly is a collaborative effort.”

“In the larger context, the forum is indicative of how far along our community of Vancouver Island practitioners has come,” concludes Jay Bradley. “We are fostering a growing understanding of the fact that what goes on at a site, in terms of how rainwater is treated, is linked not only to stream and watershed health, but also to our social well-being and aesthetics of our communities.”

“Too often technical people jump prematurely into the details, make technical analyses unnecessarily complex, and solve the wrong problem. Thus, an over-arching message is: pause, step back and define the problem first,” observes Kim Stephens. “The Water Balance Model helps us solve the right problem. The desired outcome is to create liveable communities and protect stream health.”

“The provincial and regional water regulations are changing, and by 2012 provincial water laws will substantially change how development occurs. The purpose of the workshop is to review progressive rainwater/stormwater management techniques and how they can be incorporated into the planning and development process,” wrote Jack Peake, Chair of the Cowichan Valley Regional Board.