Rainwater Management

In December 2006, three provincial Ministries and DFO formed a Vancouver Island Coordinating Team to facilitate a consistent, science-based approach to rainwater management on the Island.

“Two rainfall-runoff tools have been merged to create a new tool, the Water Balance Model powered by QUALHYM, that integrates the site with the stream and watershed,” stated Ted van der Gulik. “Funded by the Province of British Columbia, the new tool supports Beyond the Guidebook: The New Business As Usual, a provincial initiative to influence the greening of the Built Environment.”

“The existing Water Balance Model is a planning tool that currently has a site focus,” stated Richard Boase. “Integration of the Water Balance Model with QUALHYMO will now provide drainage engineers with a suite of analytical capabilities, from site to watershed. As of May 1st 2001, the new integrated tool will be available to any all Internet users; and the existing Water Balance Model will be turned off.”

Carol Brzozowski, in the July/August 2008 issue of Stormwater Magazine, elaborates on the reasons why a host of developers are incorporating an increasing number of 'sustainable stormwater designs' into their developments. This feature article on Building Green notes that rainwater/stormwater is the major site issue confronting municipalities across the United States.

The seminar was structured in three parts to deal with the Why, What and How in going Beyond the Guidebook. The seminar also enabled the Green Infrastructure Partnership to report out on provincially funded programs and tools. “The response by the engineering community and others was overwhelming, and came as a welcome surprise,” reported Paul Ham,Chair. “Jim Dumont explained why two rainfall-runoff simulation tools have been merged to create a decision support tool that integrates the site with the stream and the watershed.”

The Controlled Subject Index provides users with convenient, indexed access to stories and resources that are contained in the Rainwater Management Online Library. When a resource is added to the library, it is categorized against an index that comprises five ways of classifying the resource.

Leadership team representatives met in Calgary on October 31, 2007 to finalize the partnership framework. “Our relationship with the BC partnership has already paid dividends. Over the past three years, members of the BC team have made numerous visits to Alberta to help us raise awareness of the need to change land development practices so that we capture rain where it falls,” stated Alberta’s Liliana Bozic (City of Calgary).

Stormwater specialist Bill Derry has been working on Pacific Northwest stormwater issues for 25 years, and he says some serious changes need to be made, and made quickly, in the way we live. Derry came up with a list of 10 ways to fix the region’s stormwater problems. He said he hopes his list require major lifestyle changes. He said the problem is “all of us, in everything we do… There isn’t an easy answer. We can’t just designate some facility to take care of this for us.”

Held at the City of Calgary Water Centre in October 2007, the 2-day workshop event attracted an audience if 155, and included a field trip component. “The magnitude of the response was overwhelming and took us by surprise. Clearly, there is an appetite on the part of drainage practitioners and others to learn more about rainwater management,” stated Lilliana Bozic.

The Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia teamed with the Green Infrastructure Partnership to deliver a one-day seminar on how to implement ‘green solutions’ that actually protect stream health.