Presenter: Jimmy Zammar is the director of “Integrated Utility Planning” division at the City of Vancouver's Engineering Department, and is mandated with planning for water, sewer, and drainage in the city, and incorporating climate adaptation, green infrastructure, low-carbon district energy, as well as monitoring and modelling, to inform the city’s policy and investment programs. Prior to the City, Jimmy led a career in consulting on major capital and sustainable infrastructure projects in the private sector and with public agencies. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture (Lebanon), a master’s degrees in Infrastructure Project Management (France), and a Master’s degree in Sustainable Development (UK).

Title: Transforming the City of Vancouver’s Water Future

Summary

The City of Vancouver has recognized the need for a paradigm shift in how it plans and manages water in all its forms to respond and adapt to climate change, provide reliable services to our communities, protect the environment and our natural systems, and embed holistic water management as a foundation for city planning. To that end, the City has undergone an organizational transformation in 2018 to respond to this challenge, and adopted a new city-wide approach (“One Water”) for integrated water resource planning. In 2019, City Council adopted the Rain City Strategy to formalize this paradigm shift. The strategy went on to receive a suite of national awards in 2020. However, the implementation of this transformation is not without challenges and complexity, and the coming decade is critical to enable the city to embark on a path for resilience, equity, and sustainability through water. Jimmy will walk through the momentous opportunities and challenges of this transformation.