Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC

“While we are very good at measuring settlement, mainly in financial terms, we have not been that effective in quantifying the ecological impacts. This disconnect in measuring what matters has historically resulted in an unbalanced approach when making development and infrastructure decisions,” states Tim Pringle.

McHarg’s book Design With Nature is widely considered one of the most important and influential works of its kind. It has sold more than 155,000 copies and remains one of the most widely used textbooks on landscape architecture and architecture in the United States. His premise is simple: “that the shaping of land for human use ought to be based on an understanding of natural process.” The ecological planning method developed by him to apply this theory was seized upon and used throughout the world.

“British Columbia communities enjoy many natural amenities that are in the resources bank and producing returns. Lakes, streams, sea coast, forests, topography, flora and fauna are assets. These assets enable communities to draw on nature for infrastructure services needed for the built environment,” wrote Tim Pringle.

“For various and often good reasons, there is a growing awareness of the need to handle stormwater and runoff with more focus on volume as a basis for design and decision making. It is making its way into America’s midsection and widely into the minds of regulators—federal, state, and local. The shift toward VBH is a good thing, and making the shift carefully and gracefully will help ensure its long-term effectiveness,” concludes Andy Reese.

Handbook topics cover issues such as financing, operation and maintenance, incentives, designs, codes & ordinances, and a variety of other subjects. The handbook documents are intended to serve as “how to” manuals on these topics, written primarily from the standpoint of municipal implementation.

“The concept of sustainable urban drainage was introduced in the city of Malmö already in the late 1980s. Over the two decades the new drainage concept has been applied in Malmö, the technique has gradually been developed and further refined. This applies both to the physical planning and to the preferences regarding the technical configuration,” wrote the late Peter Stahre when his book was published.

“Have you ever felt that justifying your detention design to a reviewing agency was a game of numbers? Do you have ways of making that marginal design look like a winner? Most engineers do,” wrote Glenn E. Brooks in the September 2007 issue of Stormwater magazine.

According to Tom Holz, “The Department of Ecology apears to be on a path to continue using the same standard for development for the next five to eight years that has been used for the last decade. DOE calls it the ‘flow-duration’ standard. It more accurately should be described as the 0/100/100 standard. That is, DOE will require ‘0%’ forest set-aside, will allow ‘100%’ hardened surfaces, and will allow ‘100%’ runoff of precipitation falling on a site.”

Published by the Sonoma Valley Groundwater Management Program (north of San Francisco, California), this guidebook is intended to help landowners and homeowners make the most of the many potential benefits of innovative rainwater management.

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