Metro Vancouver Regional Board reaffirms support for inter-regional collaboration within Georgia Basin
Note to Reader:
Launched in 2012, the Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Education Initiative (IREI) provides local governments in the Metro Vancouver region with a mechanism to collaborate, share outcomes and cross-pollinate experience with local governments on the east coast of Vancouver Island.
When the Metro Vancouver Regional Board met on March 6th 2015, it supported a request from the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC for endorsement of continued participation by the Metro Vancouver region in the IREI.
Towards a Watershed Health Legacy
In his Staff Report to the Board of Directors, Fred Nenninger (Director, Policy Planning and Analysis, Liquid Waste Services Department) wrote that:
“Since the development of the Water Balance Model in the early 2000s Metro Vancouver and its member municipalities have collaborated with the other regional districts and the province in the refinement of frameworks, tools and education related to stormwater management and watershed health.”
“In accordance with the actions in the (region’s) Integrated Liquid Waste and Resource Management Plan (ILWRM) related to collaboration with local and senior governments it is recommended that the Board continue to support Metro Vancouver’s participation in the Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Education Initiative as coordinated through the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC.”
Context for Collaboration
Metro Vancouver and region participation in the IREI program flows from Strategy 3.2 in the region’s ILWRM which states that Metro Vancouver will:
Collaborate with local and senior governments, academic institutions and industry in research on wastewater treatment technology and stormwater management and associated demonstration projects, training and development of educational toolkits.
“A number of tools, such as the Water Balance Model initiated by Metro Vancouver, have been further developed by the province and others and are now well known and utilized by municipalities across British Columbia and beyond,” explained Fred Nenninger.
Metro Vancouver Support for Water Balance Model
“Metro Vancouver has contributed $50,000 to fund further enhancement of the Water Balance Model because widespread use of this decision tool will help Metro Vancouver and members fulfil our regulatory commitments, in particular those 
related to integrated rainwater management,” stated Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore, Chair of the Metro Vancouver Board, when he announced the grant to the Partnership for Water Sustainability in February 2012.
Metro Vancouver Board Resolution on March 6, 2015
“That the Board, in recognizing the value and benefits of inter-regional collaboration, endorses and supports continued participation by the Metro Vancouver region in the Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Education Initiative as coordinated through the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC.”
Meeting of the Metro Vancouver Regional Board on March 6, 2015
To Learn More:
To download a copy of the Staff Report that provided the basis for a Board Resolution reaffirming continued participation, click on Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Education Initiative.
Watershed Health Goal
“For the upcoming period 2015-2017, the focus of the IREI work plan will be on HOW integration of service, natural asset and financial sustainability (Sustainable Service Delivery) would be implemented through an asset management process to achieve the Watershed Health Goal,” reports Kim Stephens, Partnership Executive Director.
