RAINWATER HARVESTING: A Way to Meet Targets for Living Water Smart in BC – “The future is now, and rainwater harvesting is very much part of the long-term water supply picture in the Metro Vancouver and Greater Victoria regions,” wrote Kim Stephens in an article published by Construction Business Magazine (March 2009)
BC Government Position: Fifty percent of new water municipal needs will be acquired through conservation by 2020
– page 75, Living Water Smart: British Columbia’s Water Plan.
Climate change is emerging as a driver for rainwater harvesting
What does this statement of provincial policy mean for architects, engineers and contractors in British Columbia? It means that rainwater harvesting will emerge as a substitute source of water supply, particularly for new commercial and institutional buildings.
An example of what this means in practice is the Discovery Green building project in Burnaby. There, rainwater harvesting will contribute to a reported 72% reduction in reliance on the regional water system.
“Climate change is emerging as a driver for rainwater harvesting in the urban 
regions of British Columbia, partly because of the need to mitigate risk.In Metro Vancouver, for example, a declining snowpack means less water is available to replenish lake storage reservoirs during the high-demand summer season. The need to offset this loss provides an incentive to capture rain where it falls on roof surfaces,” explains Kim Stephens, Program Coordinator for the Water Sustainability Action Plan for British Columbia.
To Learn More:
Download a copy of Rainwwater Harvesting: A Way to Meet Targets for Living Water Smart in BC, an article published in the March/April 2009 issue of Construction Business.
The article was written by Kim Stephens; with contributions by Eric Bonham, Jody Watson (Capital Regional District, and Lynn Kriwoken and Amelia Loye of the Ministry of Environment.
Acknowledgment:
Reprinted with permission from Construction Business magazine.