ADAPTATION is the theme for Seminar #2 in the 2011 Comox Valley Series
This article is part of a series posted on the Water Bucket website to provide a written record of the program for the 2011 Comox Valley Learning Lunch Seminar Series. In the years to come, it is hoped that these articles will prove to be a valuable resource. To download a PDF document version of the article, click on ADAPTATION is the theme for Seminar #2 in the 2011 Comox Valley Series
“Mitigation and adaptation are both necessary and complementary strategies to cope with the climate change challenge. If mitigation is about CARBON, then adaptation is about WATER,” stated MLA John Slater, Parliamentary Secretary for Water Supply and Allocation in the BC provincial government. He made this statement in his opening remarks at the From Rain to Resource: Managing Stormwater in a Changing Climate Workshop, held in October 2010 in Kelowna.
“Designing with nature captures the essence of climate change adaptation. Adaptation is about responding to the changes that will inevitably occur. Adaptation is at the community level and is therefore about collaboration. Rainwater management is at the heart of designing with nature.”
Link to YouTube Video:
To view what John Slater had to say, click on context for ‘designing with nature’ to access the video clip posted on YouTube.
Water for Life & Livelihoods
Local governments in the Comox Valley are convening for action around this paradigm: Water is the finite resource; however, management of development is the control.
“When you think about it, water truly is the unifying element for the myriad of regional strategies and plans that have been under development for the past few years,” reflects Michael Zbarsky, Manager of Transit and Sustainability with the Comox Valley Regional District.
Water OUT = Water IN
“In 2005, we introduced the Water OUT = Water IN mind map (see below) to help practitioners and others think holistically about water issues. It was a way to portray complexity in a way that we believed people could intuitively understand,” explains Kim 
Stephens, Executive Director for the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia. He is the moderator for the 2011 Comox Valley Series.
“The equation is deceptively simple, yet it embodies the basic principles and concepts for dealing with uncertainty and managing risk. It allows us to draw attention to the elements of the water cycle, how we allocate and use water, and make the point that water and land uses are inter-connected.”
Reduce Water Need & Limit Water Runoff
“In a nutshell, climate change on the West Coast means less snow and more rain in the winter months; it also means longer and drier summers. While it rains a lot in coastal BC, we generally don’t have an abundance of supply when the demand is greatest. Because mountain watersheds are typically storage-constrained, the issue is already one of under-supply. Climate change is therefore aggravating an existing vulnerability.”
“So, it we are vulnerable on the IN side of the equation, then we must build in resiliency on the OUT side. That means we have to look for the little things that will yield cumulative benefits – for example, a topsoil sponge on development sites reduces water need and also limits water runoff.”
“Maintaining the natural storage capacity of the watershed landscape is important to people and fish. If we need less water for lawn and garden irrigation, then our water supply sources will be better able to carry us through a drought. At the same time, slow release of water from the landscape to streams will sustain baseflow for fish,” concludes Kim Stephens.
To download a PDF version of the image below, click here.
