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The Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC is collaborating with Asset Management BC to integrate “watershed systems thinking” into the Asset Management Continuum. The Partnership is the lead for development of an Ecological Accounting Protocol. Tim Pringle coined the phrase ecological accounting protocol to make clear the distinction vis-à-vis ecological economics. “The purpose of the proposed accounting protocol is to enable comparison of engineered infrastructure to natural systems by means of common units of measurement and value,” states Tim Pringle. “The emphasis is on ‘civil services’ that provide a municipal function.”

Years in the making, the vision for Sustainable Service Delivery became a reality with rollout of the outcome-oriented “BC Framework” in 2015. “The branding logo for the BC Framework also represents a continuum. As local governments mature, both in terms of understanding and applying asset management principles, there is then the ability to appropriately incorporate and integrate natural capital into their asset and watershed plans. 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 Glen Brown.

At the World Forum on Natural Capital held in Scotland last November, Emanuel Machado shared the story of the Town of Gibsons Eco-Asset Strategy with an international audience. “The World Forum brought together government, business, science and academic leaders from 46 countries to discuss the most up-to-date developments on this rapidly evolving field, with a focus on risk management and innovation,” reports Emanuel Machado, Chief Administrative Officer, Town of Gibsons. “After two exciting days, I walked away with a sense that we in Canada, and BC in particular, are heading in the right direction and, perhaps, even leading in some ways. In terms of how best to address natural capital in the context of cities and urban areas, Canada is ahead of the game.”

Salmon-Safe certification provides a seal of approval that land and water management practices implemented across the entire site protect water quality and habitat for salmon and other native species. “Salmon-Safe is now active across the entire Pacific Northwest region with more than 38,000 hectares of urban and agricultural land certified from Northern California to British Columbia. Following introduction to BC in 2011, Salmon-Safe has certified more than 45 agricultural properties and recently in 2015 certified the first urban site in BC – the Mountain Equipment Co-Op (MEC) Head Office in Vancouver,” stated Naomi Robert.

The Province of British Columbia has long recognized that communities are in the best position to develop solutions which meet their own unique needs and local conditions. Furthermore, the emphasis in BC is on progressing towards a desired outcome. Three landmark initiatives came to fruition in 2014. All embody the enabling philosophy. “Looking into the future, collaboratively developed Water Sustainability Plans can integrate water and land use planning and can be combined with other local, regional or provincial planning processes to address water-related issues. “The scale and scope of each plan – and the process used to develop it – would be unique, and would reflect the needs and interests of the watersheds affected,” states Jennifer Vigano.

The Joint Staff Training Workshop held in December 2015 commenced the internal rollout of the Water-Wise Guide in each of the partner jurisdictions – Comox Valley Regional District (CVRD), City of Courtenay, Town of Comox and Village of Cumberland.
“Collaboration is an important part of ‘developing water wise’. And collaboration with the stewardship sector is crucial,” stated Jack Minard, (former) Executive Director of the Comox Valley Land Trust. “Community stewards have the long-term knowledge of how a watershed is functioning on the ground. They know and understand the whole watershed. Collaboration with stewardship groups can save local governments and developers money both in the short term and long term.”

Watershed system resilience may be built by shifting from traditional silo governance to a more collaborative model, including: strong leadership at a provincial and regional level, rounded out with local participation in monitoring and other stewardship actions. Salt Spring Island Watershed Protection Authority follows a uniquely participatory integrated watershed planning and co-governance process, aimed at responding to change in order to construct sustainable relationships with local watershed resources. “What makes the plan innovative is its foundation in both strong science, and local socioeconomic values”, claims Shannon Cowan. “During the development of the Plan, many perceptions about St. Mary Lake watershed were challenged as new scientific evidence and information became available.”

Jody Watson, Nancy Gothard and Julie Pisani are examples of local government partners on Vancouver Island who bring strong enthusiasm and professional skill to fostering collaborative relationships for leveraged outcomes in their work in public education, local data collection, and policy improvements, to promote watershed health in their respective regions. “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.”

Andy Reese coined the term Voodoo Hydrology in 2006 to describe the misapplication of science that characterizes drainage engineering and stormwater management practice. He says, As a stormwater community, we have for years relied upon common urban stormwater hydrologic design methodologies and trusted their results. But, should we?” He cautions that: “We must understand that urban hydrology, including newer Green Infrastructure sizing approaches, as commonly practiced, is an inexact science where we are simply trying to get close to the right answer. We are dealing with probabilities and risk, a changing land-use environment, and many real-world factors that can alter the answer. The applications we may encounter can vary radically.”

“The drought that extended this past winter, spring and summer from Vancouver Island to Manitoba and from Mexico to the Yukon suggests that Western North America may be crossing an invisible threshold into a different hydro-meteorological regime,” stated Kim Stephens. “In terms of the impact on public awareness, 2015 ranks with 2003 as a defining teachable year. Lessons learned will inform how local governments move forward with a “water balance” approach to rainwater management, protection of watershed function and land servicing.”