RAINWATER MANAGEMENT IN THE COMOX VALLEY: “We’re learning how to integrate green infrastructure and low-impact development going forward,” stated Ryan O’Grady, City of Courtenay Director of Engineering, when commenting on the vision and desired outcome for the City’s Integrated Rainwater Management Plan
NOTE TO READER:
On his decafnation.net website, retired journalist George Le Masurier has posted a series of articles exploring the adverse effects on our waterways from how municipalities have traditionally managed stormwater runoff, and the slow shift to mimic natural through green infrastructure. In the 4th in the series, posted in December 2018, he looked at how Comox Valley municipalities on Vancouver Island are addressing the issues.
Rain gardens on Courtenay’s new ‘complete’ Fifth Street (photo credit: George Le Masurier)
Convening for Action in the City of Courtenay
“Ryan O’Grady, the city’s director of engineering services, will lead the development of an Integrated Rainwater Management Plan (IRMP) in 2019. The plan will encompass strategies for flood mitigation in the downtown core, how to replace traditional engineered infrastructure with green solutions and will, he says, look through a broad lens at regional solutions,” wrote George Le Masurier.
According to Ryan O’Grady, “The IRMP will have an educational component, too, about stormwater systems. These will be challenging conversations, but there is a collective desire to change.”
TO LEARN MORE:
To read the complete story by George Le Masurier, download a copy of Stormwater systems shift slowly toward green infrastructure
The article provides a synopsis of emerging practices in the City of Courtenay, Town of Comox, Village of Cumberland, and Comox Valley Regional District. In 2015, the four jointly released A Guide to Water-Wise Land Development in the Comox Valley to initiate the shift to green infrastructure approaches.
