Town of Gibsons Reaches Milestone in Aquifer 560 Watershed Protection

September 16, 2024

Gibsons, BC – The Town of Gibsons has reached a major milestone in its ongoing efforts to tackle climate change and protect local natural resources with the completion of the Source to Sea Project. This groundbreaking initiative, conducted in partnership with the Natural Assets Initiative, is part of the Town’s evolving Natural Asset Management (NAM) strategy and highlights the critical role that natural systems play in providing essential services such as safe drinking water.

The Source to Sea project examined natural assets and their interactions across the entire watershed, from where it begins at Mount Elphinstone, to where it empties into the ocean. The watershed is located on the traditional territory of the Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation), including largely undeveloped lands claimed by the Crown, and the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD).

“Source to Sea is the concept that all water is connected,” explains Michelle Lewis, Natural Asset Technician at the Town of Gibsons. “What happens in the upper watershed impacts everything downstream, and understanding these interactions is key to safeguarding our environment and community.”

Gibsons first began exploring NAM in 2016, and Source to Sea is the latest evolution of this work. By focusing on the entire Aquifer 560 Watershed, which supplies nearly 100% of the Town’s drinking water, the project provides crucial insight into how natural assets—like forests and wetlands—support both the environment and the community; and how these services can be preserved using asset management processes that have been adapted for the unique considerations of nature.

“Gibsons, as NAI’s living lab, continues to push the envelope on natural asset management — from employing the first Natural Asset Technician to exploring marine-surface water interactions — throughout Canada and beyond,” says Michelle Molnar, Technical Director at the Natural Assets Initiative (NAI). “We’re grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with Gibsons and partners like ESSA Technologies to advance NAM.” 

This project marks the first time that marine-surface water interactions were explored in the contact of NAM — given that 40% of the world’s population lives within 100 km of a coast, building awareness of the connections between water systems is highly relevant to water security for millions of people, especially when efforts are based on scalable, replicable asset management platforms.

Key Findings of the Project

The Source to Sea Project focused on assessing the condition of the Aquifer 560 Watershed, valuing its natural assets and developing holistic recommendations to maintain them not just in isolated areas but connected across the watershed. Key findings include:

• The value of these assets for stormwater management alone (just one of many services) is estimated at $40 million
• Natural assets provide approximately $4 million a year in water quality regulation services, and roughly $250,000 in carbon storage (one-time value)
• If forests were lost in 4 of the areas zoned for urban development, it would cost $1.4 million to replace the stormwater services those forests provided
• However, if the Town were to increase wetlands in areas identified in the project, the improved natural assets could provide approximately $3 million in stormwater benefits

A Model for Other Communities

Lewis encourages other local governments to follow Gibsons’ lead by starting with a simple inventory of natural assets. “The links to NAM are already there,” she advises. “By taking manageable steps and leveraging available grants, communities can build more resilient infrastructure while addressing climate adaptation and reconciliation goals.”

The Town of Gibsons is committed to building on the successes of Source to Sea. In the coming years, further collaboration with neighbouring jurisdictions will be key to addressing watershed management challenges. With the groundwork laid, Gibsons continues to be a trailblazer in natural asset management, providing a model for other municipalities navigating the impacts of climate change.

Read the technical and summary reports at Source to Sea Project

For more information, please contact:

Michelle Lewis
Natural Asset Technician
Town of Gibsons
mlewis@gibsons.ca