Regional Strategy for Rainwater Management

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WHAT IS RAINWATER MANAGEMENT? It's the management of precipitation and associated strategies to protect the health of watersheds and maintain a predevelopment water balance. Synonymous with 'Stormwater Management'. Focused on managing all rain events, not just storms; looks at managing on a watershed scale, for cumulative effects.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

  • To maintain groundwater recharge
  • To mitigate flooding
  • To protect water quality
  • To enhance climate resilience

WHERE DOES THE REGIONAL STRATEGY COME IN?

The objective of the Regional Strategy for Rainwater Management is to provide a collaborative framework to coordinate actions across jurisdictions to effectively use rain as a resource, promote the maintenance of natural hydrologic function and protect the quality of water. This is a regulatory commitment for the RDN, under the Liquid Waste Management Plan. The RDN's Drinking Water and Watershed Protection program provides the implementation mechanism for strategy and other rainwater related commitments.

WHAT IS THE STATUS OF THE PROJECT?

The final strategy is now complete, endorsed by the RDN Board, and posted in the Documents section of this page.

Moving forward, the Regional Strategy for Rainwater Management will be collaboratively implemented with member municipalities, Provincial agencies, Islands Trust and community partners.

Stay tuned for updates on this page.

Thank you to everyone who provided their input during the public engagement stage of the project!

WHAT IS RAINWATER MANAGEMENT? It's the management of precipitation and associated strategies to protect the health of watersheds and maintain a predevelopment water balance. Synonymous with 'Stormwater Management'. Focused on managing all rain events, not just storms; looks at managing on a watershed scale, for cumulative effects.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

  • To maintain groundwater recharge
  • To mitigate flooding
  • To protect water quality
  • To enhance climate resilience

WHERE DOES THE REGIONAL STRATEGY COME IN?

The objective of the Regional Strategy for Rainwater Management is to provide a collaborative framework to coordinate actions across jurisdictions to effectively use rain as a resource, promote the maintenance of natural hydrologic function and protect the quality of water. This is a regulatory commitment for the RDN, under the Liquid Waste Management Plan. The RDN's Drinking Water and Watershed Protection program provides the implementation mechanism for strategy and other rainwater related commitments.

WHAT IS THE STATUS OF THE PROJECT?

The final strategy is now complete, endorsed by the RDN Board, and posted in the Documents section of this page.

Moving forward, the Regional Strategy for Rainwater Management will be collaboratively implemented with member municipalities, Provincial agencies, Islands Trust and community partners.

Stay tuned for updates on this page.

Thank you to everyone who provided their input during the public engagement stage of the project!

  • Who is involved?

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    Rainwater, by its nature is cross-jurisdictional. It rains across political boundaries and run-off flows across the landscape effecting all land uses, ecosystems and activities. This means there are many organizations and individuals involved in managing rainwater on different scales.

    Collaboration is essential to ensure a holistic and effective approach to maintaining the water balance across the landscape in a changing climate, amidst land use changes and development. This includes:

    • Municipalities (that operate their own stormwater drainage infrastructure)
    • Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (that manages rural road drainage including culverts and ditches)
    • Forestry companies (that manage forestry road drainage and vast areas of upper watershed land)
    • The RDN (that administers land use planning in rural areas, manages regional parks, coordinates emergency planning and leads regional programs on watershed protection)
    • First Nations (whose traditional territory region resides within; including the Snuneymuxw, Snaw-naw-as and Qualicum First Nations)
    • Plus stewardship groups, consulting professionals, property owners, and the community-at-large


Page last updated: 23 Mar 2023, 03:49 PM