Rainwater Management

According to Nora Beck, “the Rainwater-in-Context intiative urges modification because lot-level standards alone deliver lower overall performance than holistically-planned shared systems at the community or watershed scale.”

Plan reimagines the city as an oasis of rain gardens, green roofs, permeable pavements, thousands of additional trees, and more. It would 'peel back' the city’s concrete and asphalt.

Project is designed to divert about 90% of the water from a moderate storm; and is part of a larger city-wide push to find more environmentally-friendly and cheaper ways to cleanse stormwater. “It’s an innovative, ecological, green way to treat stormwater,” said John McLaughlin

“Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver are learning from each other, and are moving in the same direction. Commencing in 2006, ‘convening for action’ program elements implemented on Vancouver Island have built on Metro Vancouver approaches and precedents,” states Kim Stephens.

“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.”

“Farmers are saying it is not the big storms that cause them problems. Rather, it is all the little storms. All the water from the uplands is just enough that the farmers cannot get on their land and plant or harvest their crops,” stated Ted van der Gulik.

“An ISMP is a potentially powerful tool to achieve a vision for ‘green’ development, one that protects stream health, fish habitat and fish; and anticipates climate change. Local governments now have a decade of experience from which to extract lessons learned,” states Kim Stephens.

“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.

Stan Westby (120p) – Powell River CAO
ISMP Course Correction Series – Story #4 in December 2010
Asset management usually commences after something is built. The challenge is to think about what asset management entails BEFORE the asset is built. What level does a community wish to provide, and what level can it afford.