Comox Valley WaterWise

The Developer’s Guide to Water Wise Land Development in the Comox Valleywas developed for education and to communicate the story of why watershed-based rainwater management planning (as opposed to jurisdictional) is necessary, the strategies available to land owners and developers to minimize their negative impacts on the watersheds they reside in, and the roles that each audience plays to achieve or maintain a healthy watershed. It is an orienting guide to the range of ongoing transformational work that’s occurring to align regulators and industry best management practices into a Design with Nature approach. The Guide is designed to be visually engaging, easy to read, with front counter ‘branding’ consistent to all four local government planning counters, and tips to applicants on how to prepare successful applications. Available at all four municipalities front counter.  And Here

The Water Balance Model Express is primarily for Landowners as an online tool that has pre-set and watershed-specific performance targets. The Express guides property owners through a simple and visually oriented set of sizing options for rain gardens, cisterns, infiltration swales and landscaping. The tool helps property owners quantify how well their properties capture, sink and spread rainwater runoff and do their share to meet the watershed targets. This will assist with front counter inquiries as well as allow residents to explore online opportunities to make their specific property more watershed-friendly.

View all 28 watersheds in the Comox Valley Regional District by simply clicking onto the image/thumbnail.

The purpose of this report is two-fold:

1. Describe the 2015 initiatives of the Convening for Action on Vancouver Island (CAVI) watershed sustainability initiative; and

2. Provide background and context to the CAVI Comox Valley initiative.

These initiatives are listed here and discussed in more detail in the report:

*The Developer’s Guide to Water Wise Land Development in the Comox Valley

*Comox Valley Water Wise website

*Comox Valley Water Balance Model Express on-line tool and Water Balance Accreditation Workshop

* Beyond the Guidebook 2015 Inter-Regional Education Initiative (IREI)

Beyond the Guidebook 2015 describes how local governments on the east coast of Vancouver Island and in the Lower Mainland are ‘learning by doing’ and collaborating to develop and implement ‘integrated solutions’ that are effective and affordable, create a legacy, and achieve the three cascading objectives for Watershed Health, Resilient Rainwater Management and Sustainable Service Delivery, namely:

1) protect and/or restore hydrologic integrity;

2) mimic the natural water balance; and

3) integrate natural systems thinking and adaptation to a changing climate into asset management.