Is There Enough Water to Support Village Expansion?
The first three Village Vision Workshops have gathered Islanders’ ideas about roles for the village, land use potentials, and housing, respectively. The emerging vision reflects a complete and compact community that promotes connectivity, vitality and walkability while not exceeding the carrying capacity of the Island.
A critical consideration for any future expansion of commercial, community and residential infrastructure in the village area must be the provision of adequate water supplies and adequate wastewater treatment.
Workshop #4 is titled “Water In, Water Out” and the discussions will be framed by presentations from experts:
· “Water In” will cover rainwater harvesting; water storage;; wells; “aquifers”; and the potential for shared systems.
· “Water Out” will focus on wastewater treatment; water re-use (grey water); and stormwater management.
Please join us on Sunday, October 4th from 1:00 – 4:30 pm at the Haven’s Phoenix Theatre.
If you pre-register for the workshop you will receive background information in advance.
Speakers for Oct 4 Village Vision Workshop
John Peirce, P. Geo., Gulf Islands Rainwater Connection Ltd., Gabriola Island
John has designed and installed rainwater-harvesting systems on Gabriola for the last five years. He is co-author (with Nick Doe) of the article The Hydrogeology of Gabriola.
John will speak briefly on the current information available on water use in the area of the village core.
Ian Ralston, Eng. L., Trax Development, Thetis Island
Ian is a provincially recognized expert on onsite sewerage systems.
He is a co-author of the APEGBC Professional Practice Guideline,
Onsite Sewerage Systems as well as the Ministry of Health Sewerage
System Standard Practice Manual (SPM) version 2 and the new version 3.
Mr Ralston is currently working with the Ministry of Health on
development of a Manual of Composting Toilet and Greywater System
Practice.
Ian has designed large and small onsite sewerage systems in BC since
1995, and specializes in the design and implementation of ground
discharge systems for difficult sites.
His presentation will cover:
- Regulatory context and options available for small (<5000 GPD) and large systems,
- Decentralized concept, management options, economic risk management.
- Range of treatment technologies, with emphasis on "smarter" systems, with pros and cons
- Rangeofoptionsfordispersal of treated effluent or re-use of reclaimed water (both grey and black), with some pros and cons.
Following the presentation: questions and answers to provide some basis for the
smallgroupdiscussions.
Andrew Gower, P. Eng., Wedler Engineering, Courtenay, B.C.
Andrew helped start up the Courtenay office of Wedley Engineering. He has a keen interest in sustainable systems and has consulted on many rainwater and other alternative water systems. He is also the current Chair of the Comox Valley Chamber of Commerce.
His presentation will cover:
Water requirements
- Quantity – how much water do we need?
- Quality – what are the current standards that have to be met?
Water sources
- Ground water
- Rainwater
- Water-reuse (briefly)
Challenges
- Storage
- Regulations