On April 7th, Metro Vancouver hosted the Water Balance Model Partners Forum. Two weeks earlier, the City of Surrey hosted two training sessions for WBM Paying Subscribers. These events were transformational and have influenced how “Version 2.0” and “Version 2.1” will be rolled out in June and October, respectively.
“As the community has grown and user preferences have evolved, we’ve reached a point where one WBM interface no longer works for everyone. We now need to provide an environment that supports communities that range from highly experienced experts to enthusiastic newcomers,” reports Dr. Charles Rowney, Scientific Authority for the Water Balance Model Partnership. According to Dr. Rowney, three launch points correspond to three common investigation scenarios:
1. WBM for the Watershed – this is the scale where the big environmental questions are answered.
2. WBM for the Neighbourhood – this is the scale of interest to the developer.
3. WBM Express for Homeowners – this is the lot or site scale, and is especially relevant to redevelopment scenarios where infilling is of interest.
The Water Balance Model is moving toward an expert system with broad capabilities that can quickly provide answers to questions, and compare a number of site / watershed conditions, while giving consideration to the effects of climate change. The identified next steps in the development process will target specific technical matters; and will produce a system that can be a coach, providing guidance to all levels of users.
To learn more, click on Establish Performance Targets at the Watershed, Neighbourhood and Site Scales to read the complete story posted on the Water Bucket website; or click here to download a PDF document version.
News Release #2011-21
May 3, 2011
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