Rainwater Management

“The Cowichan Valley Regional District is pleased to partner with the province and other local governments to bring the Water Balance Model tool to citizens of the Cowichan Valley,” states Gerry Giles, Chair. “The model is a tool that will help us integrate sound environmental, engineering and land use practices so that we act in a sustainable manner for our community.”

“The 21st-century green city is possible. Instead of relying heavily on pipes and concrete, this new approach relies upon soil, trees and open space to naturally absorb, store, evaporate and filter rainwater,” says Calvin Sandborn.

“The Water Balance Model differs from other drainage modelling tools in three fundamental ways: it is web-based; development is driven by the community of users; and it can help create a vision of the future watershed,” states Dr. Charles Charles Rowney. “All three are powerful in their own rights. There is no other comparable web-based tool. Also, the needs and wants of the user community establish priorities for model evolution.”

“A key message is that the Water Balance Model is a ‘scenario comparison tool’. There is no restriction on the scenarios that a user may choose to compare. The tool allows users to make transparent ‘what if’ assumptions to compare pre-development and pre-deforestation conditions,” explained Kim Stephens.

The genesis for the series was a focus group workshop held in October 1997. The coming together of a group of change agents in set in motion a chain of events that has reverberated through time in British Columbia. The vision morphed into a transformational series once Mayor Barry Janyk of the Town of Gibsons became involved. His high profile involvement added political credibility. Mayor Janyk was the moderator for the last three in the series.

“When undertaking infrastructure projects in the City of Victoria, we now ask ourselves what are the opportunities to do business differently so that there will be long-term benefits for the urban watershed,” says Steve Fifield.

The Inter-Provincial Partnership named Jim Dumont as its Engineering Applications Authority because he is a recognized specialist in hydrologic modelling. His responsibilities encompass hydrology applications and stream health methodologies that enhance use of the WBM as a scenario modeling and decision support tool at the site, neighbourhood and watershed scales.

Topsoil Technical Primer – cover (360p)
Green Infrastructure Partnership – February 2010
The Morgan Heights developer exemplifies what is meant by 'shared responsibility'. To ensure the performing topsoil is provided, the developer works with a purchaser from the start of house construction to the point where the purchaser takes possession and moves into the house.

Jacky Grimshaw (120p)
Center for Neighborhood Technology, Chicago
Green Infrastructure creates healthier, more vital communities, protects clean water, saves money and energy, and helps to create green jobs.

“It was both timely and relevant that on the same day at the Bowker Forum, the UVIC Environmental Law Clinic released Re-Inventing Rainwater Management. The day forced us to ‘think watershed’ and transcend jurisdictional boundaries. The politicians are listening. Geoff Young, CRD Chairman, stated that ‘cross boundary problems make managing rainwater more difficult, but some of the ideas they have put forward are ones we have started talking about’,” stated Eric Bonham.