Apply Financial Metrics to Improve Enhancement and Restoration of Streams through Asset Management

The partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia will apply the Ecological Accounting Process (EAP) to stream corridors in three regional districts on Vancouver Island. The three case study applications are Bowker Creek in the Capital Region Regional District, the Millstone River in the Regional District of Nanaimo, and the Saratoga Beach Drainage Area in the Comox Valley Regional District. For each stream corridor, the analysis will calculate the financial value of the land within each stream setback zone. These values will be expressed as "dollars per kilometre". In addition, each case study application will propose a baseline annual budget for maintenance and management of the stream system (the natural asset) within each setback zone.The Regional Districts partnering in the Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Education Initiative (IREI) are undertaking the EAP case study in order to:1. Avoid an unfunded financial liability associated with drainage infrastructure, due to the unintended consequences of subdivision and land use regulation.2. Embark on a process that would ultimately incorporate maintenance, management, and restoration of stream corridor natural assets within an asset management framework.3. Provide a methodology and metrics to achieve policy and program objectives for management of stream systems as natural assets.4. Measure the financial value of the land area occupied by the stream plus setback zone as described in regulations for streamside protection. This land is defined as the Natural Commons Asset, or NCA.5. Provide the foundation for annual baseline budgets that would lead to improved maintenance and management (M&M) of the NCA; where management means “protection” (or prevent degradation) and management means “enhancement”. 6. Provide a proxy asset value that can go on the financial balance sheet of each local government.