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Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Education Initiative

Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Education Initiative: Partnership for Water Sustainability updated Regional District of Nanaimo Board (May 2016)


“The Partnership for Water Sustainability brings together, and supports the efforts of, local and regional governments across BC. It’s overarching goal is to provide tools to help organizations achieve their water sustainability goals, and opportunities for shared learning. The IREI is an outstanding example of this shared learning approach, and is endorsed by 5 Regional Boards, representing 75% of the population in BC,” stated Randy Alexander.

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Georgia Basin IREI introduced to Environmental Managers Association of BC (April 2016)


“Restoring the absorbency of the urban landscape would reduce demand for landscape irrigation water and sustain environmental flows during droughts. It would also reduce stream erosion in wet weather,” stated Kim Stephens. ”Too often people think of land and water as being independent – almost like silos. But what we do on the land, and whether we treat the land with respect, has direct implications and consequences for water use.”

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Georgia Basin IREI introduced to civil engineering graduates of BCIT (March 2016)


“The presentation by Kim Stephens gave further insight into how thinking has evolved regarding stormwater management in our region and elsewhere. His discussion of Voodoo Hydrology reinforced the importance of questioning everything, a habit I try to encourage in my students,” stated Laith Furatian. The term was coined by Andy Reese, an American engineer and writer, in 2006 to describe the mis-application of science.

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Georgia Basin IREI introduced to Delta’s Mayor and Council (Dec 2015)


“It is evident that there are many champions in local government; and it is important that we recognize and celebrate what they are doing. This is all part of creating our future. And when we ask ‘what will this community look like in 50 years’, we can point to the green infrastructure examples and then we will know what it will look like in 50 years,” stated Mayor Lois Jackson.

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Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Education Initiative: Partnership's Kim Stephens introduced CRD Environmental Services Committee to "Beyond the Guidebook 2015"


The Capital Regional District has undergone a transition, from ‘stormwater-based thinking’ that is narrowly focussed, to ‘watershed-based thinking’ that is holistic in approach. Judy Brownoff, Chair of the Environmental Committee, welcomed Kim Stephens and invited him to update the members about the CRD chapter in Beyond the Guidebook 2015. CRD experience shows that local governments can foster a new ‘Land Ethic’ through Integrated Watershed Management Strategies.

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Moving Towards Healthy Watersheds: Environment Deputy Minister lauds work of the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC


“Moving beyond traditional engineered infrastructure asset management to also account for nature’s services will help influence ‘standards of practice’ and represent a leading-edge evolution in how infrastructure is planned, financed, implemented and maintained in BC. The long-term success of the IREI program will be measurable when community development activities and alterations of the built environment result in cumulative benefits, not impacts,” wrote Wes Shoemaker.

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Moving Towards Healthy Watersheds: Local government champions on Vancouver Island share the proverbial wheel, rather than reinventing it


“We each consider it a success when we can achieve more outputs with fewer inputs, and have committed to continue to adopt a sharing approach to their work,” states Nancy Gothard. “Each community has different goals and capacities and each jurisdiction’s educational materials reflect this, while also providing similar messaging and layout elements for consistent branding.”

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Delta’s rain garden experience informs Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Educational Initiative


“Storm Water Management innovation in BC is the result of not being overly regulated. Establish sound principles. Apply them. Adapt to the specific site conditions. Do not be too prescriptive, it may take away the opportunity for innovation,” states Hugh Fraser. “Creating a watershed health legacy will ultimately depend on how well we are able to achieve rain water management improvements on both public and private sides of a watershed.”

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The New Paradigm: Watershed Systems as Infrastructure Assets


“Where a local government regulates land use, a watershed is an integral part of the drainage infrastructure assets of the local government. More specifically, the three pathways (surface, interflow, groundwater) by which rainfall reaches streams are infrastructure assets. They provide ‘water balance services’. This has implications for asset management,” stated Richard Boase.

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Georgia Basin IREI Connects the Dots: Sustainable Watershed Systems & Asset Management


“The asset management process is a continuum; and nature is an integral part of a community’s infrastructure system. The process starts with the engineered assets that local governments provide. Communities will progress along the continuum incrementally as their understanding grows. By also accounting for and integrating the services that nature provides, over time they can achieve the goal of Sustainable Service Delivery for watershed systems,” states Wally Wells.

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