Municipalities and Provincial government around Canada have developed action plans for anticipated water shortages. These initiatives could provide valuable guidance for Peachland. Several examples are as follows:
British Columbia: Water Conservation Strategy
Metro-Vancouver: WATER SHORTAGE RESPONSE PLAN
LEED-ND integrates the principles of new urbanism, green building, and smart growth into the first national standard for neighborhood design, expanding LEED’s scope beyond individual buildings to a more holistic concern about the context of those buildings.
The model community concept requires learning from innovative and proven initiatives that were adopted all around Canada. List of pilot LEED-ND project in Canada are as follows:
Following section explains two LEED-ND projects in BC.
Dockside Green has a centralized biomass gasification plant that converts waste wood into a heating gas for hot water and heat, with peak period support from natural gas boilers. Biomass generation makes Dockside carbon neutral in greenhouse gas production, with some energy sales to surrounding communities. The development treats its sewage, using treated water for its toilets, irrigation, creeks and ponds system. High-efficiency shower heads, faucets, urinals, dishwashers and clothes-washing machines are standard. Each Dockside accommodation can meter its own cold and hot water, space heating and electricity. Internet connection allows residents remote heating control when they are away.
Cheakamus Crossing housing was developed as Olympic Athlete’s Village for the 2010 Olympics. Featuring innovative design and development practices, Cheakamus Crossing is committed to a sustainable, compact, pedestrian-focused neighbourhood. It is designed to protect and enhance the natural wetlands in the region. Storm water rain gardens have been designed to detain rainwater run-off and care has been taken to preserve the natural surroundings of Cheakamus Crossing.
Introduction to the problem
Peachland is expecting an alarming 300% population growth in the next 20 years. Presently, District of Peachland is concerned about sustaining the sudden surge of population. Ensuring the water supply is one of the key problems with respect to the increase in the population. Ensuring a sustainable water supply is associated with number of challenges such as aging infrastructure, water licencing issues, feasibility of using water from the Brenda mines, water quality standards, environmental flows, and claims by first nations on the water rights and Peachland water storage ability. Moreover, Peachland is interested in energy generation from their water system. Each of aforementioned challenges are quite different from each other.
Water is one of the most sensitive issues for the human. History shows that disputes on water had caused wars. Therefore, water issues should be dealt with utmost care. History shows, many bloody conflicts have risen due to water issues. As an example the bloody conflict in Darfur, Sudan, that began in 2003 and killed as many as 400,000 Africans, started, in part, over access to a diminishing water supply. Looking at Buddhist literature, over 2500 year back two tribes, Shakyas and Koliyas fought over water rights of Rohini river.
Engineering consultants have tried to address the problem using engineering approaches. They are doubtful about the solution mainly due to the multi-dimensionality the problem. Therefore, Peachland requires a solution beyond the rigid engineering methods. So far this problem was viewed from top to bottom. The major concern was on the water availability and water supply. District of Peachland has limited control on factors associated with the water supply. However, demand management was not considered as a solution. The 300% population increase could be used minimize the per-capita water consumption in Peachland by improving the performance in the household level.
Challenges and opportunities for interdisciplinary research.
Interdisciplinary research is the key for laying the foundation to solve “wicked problems” . Team development is the key for establishing a high performing interdisciplinary team. However, due to tight squeezed projects curtails team members to go through the phases. This could prevent the team from arriving at the best solution. Rewards for achievement of the project goals makes tem members forget about differences and focus on exploring the solutions. Similarly, negative reinforcements too could push for solutions. Respecting each other`s opinion, thinking from the lens of other disciplines enable successful solving of socio technical problems. There are various challenges and opportunities associated with interdisciplinary exercise we pursued during the past month. Challenges and opportunities associated are dissected into different aspects.
Collaborative work: Disciplinary thinking curtails undertaking the key points raised by others due to lack of understanding. This was the main challenge faced by the team. A dominating voice could present a mono disciplinary solution for this problem. Therefore, obtaining combining all the voices is a definite challenge. However, each discipline is having their strengths and weaknesses. Combined together this approach provides the optimal solution for a problem. Each term member should have a good understanding about the own discipline to avoid drawbacks with their own discipline.
Innovative possibilities for future exploration: Our solution included proposal of a model community. This concept integrates multiple aspects such as politics, engineering, sociology etc. Implementing this solution demands significant contribution from experts in the above disciplines. Many of the solutions that were proposed have been tested in other locations. However, whether the residents of Peachland are willing to adopt these changes is a real question. If the community could successfully adopt the proposed initiatives, it would neutralize number of challenges that Peachland is currently anticipating (e.g. requirement of a tank for water storage). Moreover, this solution would attract diverse demographic to Peachland which would be a catalyst for further growth.
Our partners’ reaction to the action options presented to them: Each partner had specific agenda. As example District of Peachland was considered about the development of the municipality while Urban Systems were interested in creative solutions for energy generation. It is not clear that there will be combined discussion on this subject matter in the future. Therefore, after the proposed solutions it is important for all stakeholders to get-together and develop an action plan. This task would require significant contribution from all related entities. The interest shown by our partners is always a positive sign. Being a small municipality in Okanagan, Peachland could contribute to the global knowledge base. It is interesting to see how the municipality would adopt these approaches in the future.
Everybody is afraid of change. The path to the model community requires many changes in municipal by laws to living patters of the residents. Will they dare to change that? Many have succeeded by making the change. Should we take the risk ?
This reminded me a poem by Robert Frost.
‘Two Roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry, I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the under growth
Then took the other, just as fair,
Because, it was grassy and want of wear
In leaves no step had trodden back
I doubted if I should ever come back
Two roads diverged in a wood, and
I Took the one less traveled by,
and that has made all the difference
(Robert Frost (1874-1963)
Interdisciplinary knitting is vital for solving a problem like this. However, who should be the Knitter? Coming from a project management background, I suggested the team to come up with a charter for the solution we are proposing (The model community). I have seen the importance of coming up with a project charter to move towards the desired solution. However, the team was not excited about a project charter. Objective problem solution has been the preferred path in engineering.
How to develop a project charter is as follows:
1. Project vision, objectives, scope and deliverables.
The first step is to define the vision. This states the purpose of the project and defines the end goal of the project.
Based on the vision, you must document the objectives of the project. These objectives describe what must be achieved by the project. You can use the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound) way to describe them.
When you have documented the vision and objectives, you can then document the scope. The scope will describe the boundaries of the project by describing how the business environment will be changed when delivering the project. This must include what is in and what is out on the project.
Once you have documented the scope, you can then document the deliverables that will be deliver.
2. Project organization.
In the organization section, you will identify how the project will be structured by describing who the customers are, the stakeholders and there different roles, everyone’s responsibilities and reporting lines.
The customer is the person or entity that is responsible for agreeing the deliverables and signing of and accepting the deliverables when they are completed.
A stakeholder is the person or entity who may have a specific interest in the project. This could be people or entities directly involved in the project, such as the project owner, project manager and team members, internal to the organization such as the CEO, Financial Director who needs to provide financial resources or external entities such as other organizations or governmental departments.
You then list every key role involved. These may be the Project Owner, Project Sponsor, Project Board and Project Manager. You must also provide a short summary on the responsibility of each.
Once you have documented the full project organization you can then include a diagram depicting all the different project stakeholders and the links and reporting lines between them using a Project Organization Chart.
3. Project implementation.
You should now be in a position to describe the implementation. This must include the implementation plan, milestones, any key dependencies and a resource plan.
The implementation plan will include all the phases, steps and activities of the project and can be created in an Implementation Plan. This may provide the Stakeholders with confidence that the project has been thought through thoroughly.
Now you should be able to create a detailed resource plan for the project, which must include all resources, including people, finances, equipment and materials.
4. Risks and Issues.
As a final step in the project charter you must also document the risks and issues that are know at that specific time of the project. You can also include any constraints and assumptions for the project.
And there you have your project charter. The benefit from creating a project charter is that it will help you manage the scope and ensure that you deliver consistently on time and within budget.
With only 0.3% of usable for humans and other life forms, fresh water is one of scarce resources in the world. However, in some developed countries up to 40% of treated water is still lost. Developing countries lose as much as 50% of treated water to distribution system leaks, theft, and poor measurement techniques (Sensus, 2012) . Moreover, urban water systems face sustainability and resiliency challenges such as water leaks, over-use, quality issues, and response to drought and natural disasters (Mutchek and Williams, 2014).
Hence, it is important for water utilities to look for smart water network solutions to help them conserve water supplies, remove complexity in their business and reduce operational costs — whilst at the same time helping to unlock their growth potential through new services. Automated water grids with Information and communications technology (ICT) based monitoring and control devices could address these challenges. A Smart Water Network (smart grid), water utilities can detect and locate leakages, monitor and control flow rates, water quality and pressure, so reducing instances of bursts on the network. It also increases the safe handling of wastewater, offering more advanced levels of control and reducing the number of unplanned sewage discharges. Figure 1 illustrates the concept of a smart water grid.
Figure 1: Illustration of a smart water grid
Table 1 explains components of a smart water system and problems it can address. Multiple issues could be addressed through components such as smart valves especially as part of a smart system such as smart step testing. Other components, such as flood and weather sensors, are more limited in their contribution to a smart water grid.
Table 1: Overview of the smart water gird ( Adopted from Mutchek and Williams, (2014))
| Component | Problem(s) Directly Addressed | Problem(s)Indirectly Addressed | Embedding System for Component |
| Smart Meters | Water losses, water quality, disasters, and drought | Energy consumption | Smart step testing and smart pressure management |
| Contaminant Sensors | Water quality | Energy consumption | Contaminant isolation |
| End-Use Sensing Devices | Water losses and drought | Energy consumption | N/A |
| Flood, weather Sensor | Disasters, irrigation water requirement | N/A | Smart flood management |
| Smart Valves | Water losses, water quality, and disasters | Energy consumption | Smart step testing, contaminant isolation, smart pressure management, and smart flood management |
| Smart Pumps | Energy consumption and Disasters | N/A | Smart pressure management and smart flood management |
| Smart Irrigation Controllers | Water waste/overuse | Energy consumption | N/A |
The smart water grid has received scant attention during the recent past. Potential benefits of smart water grids include improved leak management, water quality monitoring, intelligent drought management, and energy savings. Mutchek and Williams,(2014) identified several challenges for implementing smart water grids. These challenges include, obtaining the funding to implement changes, political and institutional barriers to funding and investment, as the lack of new water markets, burdens on smaller utilities, and the cost of actually fixing problems found by a smart water grid.
Smart water grids are still in research phase several smart water grids are installed in Singapore and East Bay Municipal Utility District in San Francisco Bay Area ,who were able to achieve significant water savings.
Mutchek, M., Williams, E., 2014. Moving Towards Sustainable and Resilient Smart Water Grids. Challenges 5, 123–137.
Population surge in Peachland will surface new water demands. Several potential demands includes, drinking water supply, irrigation, water for energy generation, industrial supply etc. In addition uncontrolled ground water abstraction is a challenge. Therefore it is important to develop a integrated water resource management (IWRM) plan.
IWRM is defined as,
“a process which promotes the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources, in order to maximize the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems”.
District of Peachland should aim to develop integrated water resource management plan during the next few years.
A sustainable neighbourhood is a dynamic unit that continually self-adjusts to meet the economic and social needs of its residents while protecting the environment. Today’s world is composed of a giant network of interconnected communities. A small urban neighbourhood community can be a model unit to begin a unique movement towards urban sustainability.
Ancient Sri Lankans had developed a self-sustaining community water in the village level. Sri Lanka has two seasons, wet season and dry season. Similar to Peachland there has been a significant difference in the water supply and availability. Therefore, Kings who ruled the country 2000 years ago developed built huge reservoirs that stored water for the dry season. This system integrated number of micro level systems in villages to create a practical and sustainable water centric civilization. The village design, agriculture and social cohesion were developed based on the village tank. There is a famous adage by the great king Parakramabahu “not even a little water that comes from the rain must flow into the ocean without being made useful to man”.
A review of the tank cascade system of ancient Sri Lanka.
In ancient Sri Lanka use of irrigation water during drought periods is also organized according to traditional practice of “Bethma cultivation”, where only a portion of the rice fields are cultivated. This method emphasizes the corporation, collaboration and empathy towards the colleges. Rather than thinking about increasing wealth, traditional farmers were concerned about future of the whole community.
A review of the “bethma cultivation”
The Euro centric thinking prevents human from addressing problems using proven methods that have been used for centuries. Is this the time to go back exploring the lost glory of the past?