Our 2013 - 2014 Focus

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RBC has pledged over $36 million to more than 500 charitable organizations worldwide that protect watersheds and promote access to clean drinking water, with an additional $6 million pledged to universities for water programs. In 2013-2014, the RBC Blue Water Project will focus on supporting initiatives that help protect and preserve water in towns, cities and urbanized areas.

Focus

Our new focus will allow us to engage employees, clients and municipalities in an unprecedented way. We hope it provides us with a new opportunity to track how our funding has helped protect water.

We will fund programs in towns and cities with populations of more than 10,000 people that focus on:

• Improved control and management of urban storm or rain water, such as awareness, building or use of low-impact design or natural systems to control storm or rain water
• Efficient and innovative use (or capture and reuse) of water in towns and cities
• Protection and restoration of urban waterways
• Improved urban water quality

Funded projects are expected to achieve measureable outcomes such as:

• Increased riparian green space and aquatic habitat
• Reduced damage from flooding
• Reduced energy consumption in the use or treatment of water
• Reduced rate of water runoff
• Increase water absorption through natural landscape or infiltration
• Reduced water pollution
• Improved water quality of beaches
• Reduction in public health risks caused by polluted water
• Decreased use of potable water for landscaping, toilet flushing, and other industrial uses
• Increased knowledge or awareness about water management in urban areas

This could include projects such as:

• Stormwater harvest — to reduce the amount of water that can cause flooding
• Infiltration — to restore the natural recharge of groundwater
• Bioretention (e.g., rain gardens ) — to store and control runoff rates and provide habitat in urban areas
• Retention ponds, bioswales , infiltration trenches, sustainable pavements and artificial wetlands
• Public education about better water management practices and water conservation, such as such as planting green roofs or rain gardens, using rain barrels, disconnecting downspouts, reducing pesticides on lawns and gardens, planting trees, using permeable surfaces on driveways etc.

Why are urban water issues important?

Most of the world's population now lives in towns and cities, and this has significantly increased the strain on water resources in these areas. We will work to protect water in urbanized areas by funding projects that improve control and management of storm or rain water, raise awareness about or use low-impact design or natural systems to control storm or rain water, encourage more efficient use of water, and protect or restore urban waterways.