Water Balance Model Express

Find out how you can develop your land AND help maintain or restore our region’s natural water balance.

When natural areas are altered by human development we lose the slow-release, sponge-like functions of vegetation and soil, and severely upset the balance and flow of water.

An unbalanced flow of water through the watershed means:

• Too much flow during wet weather periods – fast-moving water rushes off hard surfaces like driveways, building roofs, decks, compacted soil and parking lots, causing increased stream erosion, slope destabilization, poor drainage, stream pollution, mud slides, and ultimately an increased need for expensive (storm)water infrastructure.
• Too little during dry weather periods – when streams and aquifers are not recharged by infiltration during the rainy season, streams and rivers dry up in the summer and fish cannot survive, vegetation dies and there isn’t enough water for communities and commercial activity.

There are costs, liabilities and sustainability consequences associated with each extreme, interrupting nature’s FREE delivery of rainwater management services.

Slow, Sink and Spread Rainwater

The Water Balance Model Express is an online tool intended primarily for landowners in The City of Coquitlam to identify and experiment with tools that can help minimize your footprint in the watershed. The Express guides property owners through a simple and visually oriented set of options for sizing:

The tool helps property owners quantify how well their properties can capture, sink and spread rainwater to mimic the natural flow of water that is appropriate for their watershed. Do your part to promote healthy and resilient watersheds for present and future generations to enjoy.