Capital 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 on the east coast of Vancouver Island with a mechanism to collaborate, share outcomes and cross-pollinate experience with each other and with local governments in the Metro Vancouver region.
When the Capital Regional Board met on April 8th 2015, it supported a request from the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC for endorsement of continued participation by the Capital Regional District in the IREI.
Towards a Watershed Health Legacy
In his Staff Report to the Board of Directors, Dale Green (Program Manager, Integrated Watershed Management Program) wrote that:
“The Integrated Watershed Management Program (IWMP) is currently implementing an Integrated Watershed Management Strategy in the core area and provides watershed protection and/or monitoring services to four other municipalities and the three electoral areas. Partnering with PWSBC (Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC) has provided opportunities for IWMP to better deliver on commitments such as hosting watershed protection workshops for municipal staff and organizing a workshop on the development of watershed health indicators.
“CRD staff have worked cooperatively with PWSBC since 2008 by participating in and hosting watershed protection workshops. The Bowker Creek Blueprint work coordinated by CRD staff is part of the PWSBC course on developing Integrated Stormwater Management Plans. Through this initiative, there is a new opportunity to partner with PWSBC and other island regional districts to advance aspects of existing watershed management workplans at no additional cost to the CRD.”
“Support of the PWSBC initiative enables CRD participation in a coordinated inter-regional information-sharing process. Local governments will benefit from the information sharing between four Vancouver Island regional districts and Metro Vancouver, learn from the experiences of the other regional districts and be able to participate in workshops delivered locally and elsewhere on Vancouver Island.”
To Learn More:
To download a copy of the Staff Report that provided the basis for the Board Resolution reaffirming continued participation, click on Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Education Initiative.
Context for Collaboration
The Partnership for Water Sustainability’s history of collaboration with the Capital Regional District provided context for the Board Resolution:
Capital Regional Board Resolution – April 8, 2015
Motion – “That continued participation by the Capital Regional District in the Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Education Initiative be endorsed and supported.”
Background on Implementation of Inter-Regional Program
“The partnership vision is that the project would demonstrate how local governments can fulfil ‘Design With Nature’ objectives and expectations that are both explicit and implicit in Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery: A BC Framework, released by UBCM in December 2014,” states Kim Stephens, Partnership Executive Director.
“The project focus would be on water resources and drainage. More specifically, the project would tackle the ‘unfunded infrastructure liability’ that is the unwanted legacy of historical ‘stormwater management’. The unfunded liability is created when land development and infrastructure servicing practices combine to harden the landscape and short-circuit the natural Water Balance.”
“The project would build on the technical and educational foundation that the Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Education Initiative (IREI) now provides.”
To Learn More:
To download a copy of the Backgrounder that informed the decision by the Comox Valley Regional Board, click on Background on Program Implementation for ‘Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Educational Initiative’.

To download a copy, click on https://waterbucket.ca/wscblog/files/2015/01/Asset-Management-for-Sustainable-Service_Delivery_A-Framework_for_BC_Dec-2014_short-version.pdf