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British Columbia’s new Water Sustainability Act was passed into law in May 2014. Its associated regulations are now being developed, and the legislation will likely come into force in 2016. In October 2014, a diversity of individuals working on issues related to water sustainability came together at a workshop held at the University of Victoria. “This group of water leaders developed a statement of support to the province which identified action was required on two critical issues to insure success of the Water Sustainability Act,” reports John Finnie.

“When our long term collaborator at the District of North Vancouver, Richard Boase, informed us of some of the new tools available to support rainwater management and planning in the District, I immediately knew I wanted to incorporate them into an assignment for the Urban Watershed Management course,” states Julie Wilson. “The students appreciated the power and utility of these kinds of tools to engage with the public on issues of development and rainwater management. The students really made the connection between urban flood risk and impervious area in the watershed, especially when coupled with steep terrain, shallow soils, wet antecedent conditions and an intense rainfall event (PLUS in this situation, a lack of snowpack to absorb and delay some of the rainfall).

The BC Public Service Hall of Excellence was established to recognize those individuals who have made exceptional and lasting contributions to the province of British Columbia. The inaugural induction of the Hall of Excellence took place at the provincial Premier’s Awards ceremony in Victoria on October 8, 2014.

“For 10 years we have been recognizing and celebrating public service achievements that have made real differences in people’s lives. I wanted to find a special way to honour individuals who have made exceptional and lasting contributions to British Columbia. Now the Hall of Excellence is the highest form of recognition public service employees can strive for,” stated Premier Christy Clark.

About 10.5%, or 13,055 homes constructed in the Capital Regional District prior to 1992, when natural gas became available, had oil heating installed. Failure of old oil heating systems, including unmaintained underground storage tanks (USTs), can lead to spills and costly clean up. “Adequate and consistent inventory would make it possible to systematically locate underground storage tanks and work with property owners to have them removed,” stated Tim Pringle.

“Understanding the context is key to interpreting results. An increasing building footprint is short-circuiting the Water Balance, and this has consequences for local governments – both in terms of financial liability and fisheries sustainability. The District’s GEOweb open data portal are being used as communication and teaching tools. With GEOweb, and through the use of historical air photos and Google Street View, we can visually look back in time to clarify where we want to go. The take-away message is that the District of North Vancouver is leveraging technology to help us make better decisions and provide better service,” states Richard Boase.

“Soil depth is a primary water management tool for use by local government to adapt to a changing climate. A well-designed landscape with healthy topsoil helps communities through both wet and dry times. Soil is a sponge. It holds and slowly releases rainwater. This can limit runoff during rainy weather; and reduce irrigation water need during dry weather,” states David Hislop, Upland Drainage Engineer with the City of Surrey. “In the City of Surrey, an absorbent landscape that slows, sinks and spreads rainwater is becoming a requirement for new development. We specify a minimum soil depth of 300mm. The City’s implementation experience informed development of the Topsoil Bylaws Toolkit, funded by the Province and released in 2012.”

“We will elaborate on what it will take to obtain food security for Vancouver Island. How much land would we need, and how much needs to be irrigated to achieve that level of production. Is it even possible? The Agriculture Land Use Inventory and the Agriculture Water Demand Model provide the Province and local governments with an informed and reliable basis for generating answers to these questions. The land use inventory is one of the data inputs for the Agriculture Water Demand Model. On the east coast of Vancouver Island, three local governments are leading by example through their participation in this program, namely: Cowichan Valley Regional District, Comox Valley Regional District and the Regional District of Nanaimo,” states Ted van der Gulik.

“The phrase Shifting Baseline describes an incremental eroding of standards. This results from each new generation lacking knowledge of the historical, and presumably more natural, condition of the environment. Therefore, each generation defines what is ‘natural’ or ‘normal’ according to current conditions and their personal experiences,” explains Dr. Daniel Pauly.

“I can still remember the day that the City of Surrey’s Planning General Manager, Murray Dinwoodie, came into my office in 2005. He said that Chuck Gale was looking for a new person to chair the Green Infrastructure Partnership (GIP)Murray-Dinwoodie_2013_120p and would I be prepared to step in. It was just what I did not need at the time, an extra job to do,” recalls Paul Ham. “Chairing the Partnership made me realize how many new ideas in sustainable servicing were being tried out around the Region and the Province. To spread the word on what was happening in the region a number of one day seminar and field demonstration events were held under the banner of the Showcasing Green Infrastructure Innovation Series.”

“Rain gardens have ecological importance, and are a standard requirement for all developments in the City of North Vancouver. In addition, all of our major transportation projects incorporate rain gardens. A single rain garden will not make a material difference to conditions in our creeks. But 1000 rain gardens would be a different story. These will take time to implement. The process will be incremental,” states Mayor Darrell Mussatto.