Bracing for rain: sustainability scholar project

November 20, 2025

By Anne MacLaurin

As our climate shifts more extreme storms are expected, including the issue of excess rainwater (stormwater) in our communities. Peninsula Streams Society works with municipalities on how to integrate their stormwater management plans with environmental practices. When they needed help with a project they turned to UVic’s Sustainability Scholars, a program designed to match community partners with graduate students. 

Lily Charette, a Sustainability Scholar and a master’s candidate in UVic geography, assisted Peninsula Streams Society with their project, Bracing for Rain: A cross-municipal analysis of stormwater policy in the capital region. 

“I am really interested in municipal politics and looking at nitty gritty policies across the CRD,” says Charette. “I was drawn to the project with Peninsula Streams Society because of the opportunity to build policy that would affect practice.” 

"Hiring a sustainability scholar has allowed Peninsula Streams to address an important gap in our knowledge through added capacity to engage in focused research," says Kyle Armstrong, Executive Director, Peninsula Streams Society. "Our scholar was able to be independent and flexible in addressing our research needs and provided key information and dissemination towards our blossoming regional stormwater management awareness campaign."

Charette examined stormwater policies across 9 municipalities within the CRD and Saanich Peninsula and conducted interviews with municipal staff on the challenges and opportunities of their management plans. 

Using the BC Green Bylaws Toolkit, Lily could assess how each municipality was doing in relation to the stormwater bylaws that outline important measures to improve stormwater infiltration to avoid flooding. 

“I looked at informed green stormwater infrastructure and suggested implementing more green measures by matching the hydrology of the space,” says Charette. “A useful tool in storm water management.” 

Charette explained the shift that is happening in storm water management. There is a movement away from grey water to a more green approach by treating water through a natural infiltration process. 

“There is room for improvement across the municipalities, we hope to introduce a rating system for each municipality to use in their communities to improve their guidelines,” says Charette. 

The UVic Sustainability Scholars program is a way for communities to mentor the next generation of sustainability leaders while advancing their environmental goals.