Water-Centric Planning

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Remi Dube

    LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “For the past 25 years, we have shone the hydrology spotlight on management of water volume to restore the natural water balance. Our next leap forward is to integrate the probabilistic framework evolved by UBC’s Younes Alila to reduce risk and liability,” stated Kim Stephens of the Partnership for Water Sustainability


    “The edition of Waterbucket eNews published on October 21, 2025 is about profiles in courage. It featured two individuals: former BC cabinet minister Mike Morris; and University of British Columbia professor Dr. Younes Alila. The story behind the story is about how they have aligned efforts to build awareness of Dr. Alila’s Flood Risk Methodology for flood protection. Their compelling message is that removal of forest cover, whether in rural or urban watersheds, increases the frequency, magnitude, duration and liability of floods,” stated Kim Stephens.

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    INCREASED FREQUENCY, MAGNITUDE, DURATION AND LIABILITY OF FLOODS: “So, I put my markers down. If anyone goes back through the Hansard legislative record, they will find out how many times I spoke about the increased frequency, magnitude and duration of floods caused by clearcut logging,” stated Mike Morris, former BC Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General


    “Politics prevents you from doing the right thing because of the political lens that is put on everything. It was frustrating when I tried to bring the reality of the clearcut logging situation before my colleagues. And getting ignored because it did not fit the political agenda. Nobody seemed to care about the science. In the political world, it is based on whatever the flavour of the month is rather than what is right. Politicians ignore what they do not understand. By ignoring the consequences of clearcut logging, they put themselves in a pretty serious predicament,” stated Mike Morris.

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    INCREASED FREQUENCY, MAGNITUDE, DURATION AND LIABILITY OF FLOODS: “It is not just that the forest owes its causal power to the landscape features. The hydrological response of the landscape owes its power to the landscape feature and to the climate feature. That’s the space-time relationship,” stated Dr. Younes Alila, professional engineer and professor in the UBC Faculty of Forestry


    “Evapotranspiration is necessary but not sufficient to empower the forest and affect hydrology in general and floods and droughts in particular. This can only be revealed through a probabilistic framework. Thinking like a system means you do not make decisions at the site scale. It is not about a particular stream reach or cross-section, or a bridge or a culvert. You need to step back and look at the big picture. You need to look at the entire stream network and what these flows are doing OVER TIME…AND IN THE LANDSCAPE OF THE WATERSHED,” stated Younes Alila.

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    LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “Those who are in the front lines of local government are embattled, stretched to the limit, and under-appreciated. But they are not alone. They can look to the network for inspiration, peer support and hope,” stated Richard Boase, Vice-President of the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC


    The Partnership embarked on a multi-year transition strategy in 2023. The strategy is designed to achieve two outcomes in sequence. The Partnership continues to add to the leadership team; has crafted what the Partnership and network would look like after 2025; and recognized and acted on the need to accelerate the strategy to put in place leadership for 2028 and beyond. To achieve our intergenerational mission through the network, the Partnership launched the Ambassadors Program in 2021. The ambassadors are the bridges across boundaries.

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    LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “When read together, the stories of conversations with 13 green infrastructure influencers in the Metro Vancouver region paint a picture of what it takes to innovate and lead changes in practice in the local government setting,” stated Kim Stephens, Executive Director, Partnership for Water Sustainability


    “A unifying theme in conversations with 13 green infrastructure influencers is that staff champions in local government can only carry things so far. Only when someone who is elected takes the lead, and is the champion, does something happen. In the 2000s, everything was in alignment. The right people were in the right place at the right time. There was energy, there was passion. The regional team approach to municipal collaboration brought all the players together for a shared mission. They learned from each other; they moved forward in tandem,” stated Kim Stephens.

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    LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “Without the Agricultural Land Reserve and watercourses, the city of Surrey would feel different. It would not be the place that it is,” stated Rémi Dubé when he reflected on the evolution of rainwater management and green infrastructure over decades


    “Watercourses really do drive a lot of what we do in Surrey. It always goes back to the natural resource that we inherited. From an urban fabric perspective, between the Agricultural Land Reserve and our watercourses, the city would be quite a bit different if not for them. Between those two assets, you drive through Surrey and there is an environmental sense to it despite the density in the City Centre. When the Natural Drainage Policy was adopted in 1975, formalizing that need to preserve creeks in the 1970s made a huge difference to what we have now,” stated Rémi Dubé.

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