The City of White Rock I

Integrated Stormwater Management Plan

The City is in the initial stages of developing an Integrated Stormwater Management Plan (ISMP) to enhance its watershed—and we need your help. The goal of the ISMP is to create a long-term strategy for effectively managing stormwater in White Rock and reducing the threat of flooding and erosion.
You can learn more about the ISMP by downloading our ISMP Backgrounder and attending an upcoming open house to share your knowledge.

OPEN HOUSE

Date: January 28, 2010
Time: 5 to 7 pm
Location: White Rock Community Centre, 15154 Russell Avenue

For more information about the event or about the Integrated Stormwater Management Plan, contact Marlene Fuhrmann, Environmental Coordinator with the City of White Rock at 604.541.2192. To view the draft plan (file size: 45MB), click here and the appendices (file size: 32MB), click here.

Community Climate Action Plan

The City of White Rock is initiating a process to develop a Community Climate Action Plan (CCAP). The CCAP will articulate where our community stands on energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through the development of:

• A baseline inventory of current energy consumption and GHG emissions, and a projection of future emissions;

• Targets to reduce GHG emissions from the baseline;

• Actions that we can take as a community to help us achieve these targets;

• Policies and tools that we can incorporate into our Official Community Plan (OCP) to assist in reducing emissions, and;

• Indicators to help monitor our progress over time.

For more background information about the Community Climate Action Plan, including our baseline community energy and emissions inventory, please read the CCAP Backgrounder . Please fill out our CCAP Survey before September 30, 2009. The survey is an important first step to gather input from residents on values to be preserved and priorities to be addressed in our transition towards a low carbon future. The results will inform the development of the Community Climate Action Plan.

Environment Pages

• Edition 1 – Going Pesticide Free -
• Edition 2 – Climate Change -

Upcoming Pesticide Use Bylaw

If you're still reaching for the pesticide container to rid your yard of pests, you might want to think twice.

Part of caring for your lawns and gardens is accepting that each year will bring its own unique conditions along with weeds and insects. When we rely on the cosmetic use of pesticides around our homes and gardens, there can be a significant unintentional impact on human health, animals, plants and the environment.

The City of White Rock has developed a draft Cosmetic Pesticide Use Bylaw. that prohibits the use of pesticides to maintain outdoor trees, shrubs, flowers, other ornamental plants and turf (lawns) on residential and public land.

A Public Open House was held on April 7, 2009 to discuss the draft bylaw. To view the Open House Story Boards, click here.

Trees for Tomorrow

There's good news for White Rock's tree canopy. The City has received funding as part of the Trees for Tomorrow program to have community volunteers plant 30 new trees along the sidewalk north of White Rock Elementary. The trees will replace the 17 existing diseased trees.

Trees for Tomorrow is a provincial initiative designed to plant millions of trees in schoolyards, hospital grounds, civic parks, campuses, parking lots and other public spaces throughout British Columbia over the next five years.

The program is part of the Province's strategy to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by at least 33 per cent below current levels by 2020.

Watch for an upcoming open house on the project.

Environmental Strategic Plan

To review a PDF version of the document, Click here.

Waste Reduction

Don’t toss those veggie peels! Reduce your household waste and help the environment by composting at home. Turn uncooked vegetable and fruit scraps, coffee grounds and filters, egg shells, and other organic waste into a nutrient-rich soil conditioner. The City of White Rock offers backyard composters at $55.72 (including taxes) at our Operations Department located at 877 Keil Street. The composter is conical shaped and measures about 33 inches at the base, and is 33 inches high.