February 9, 2024 | Canada’s National Observer via UVic News
The provincial government has released information indicating that snowpack levels are 40 per cent lower than they usually are at this time of year. As a result, water security groups in B.C are now gearing up to face another summer filled with wildfires and drought. Different groups are now asking the provincial government to plan ahead for this year’s drought season, to avoid situations similar to the past.
Oliver Brandes, a lead in POLIS, the University of Victoria’s Water Sustainability Project, commented on how climate change has played a role in increasing the frequency of these events. Brandes added that “You can’t manage what you don’t measure,” explaining that the province needs to get a better handle on how they manage how much water is accessed and by whom.
Oliver Brandes is a Co-Director of the POLIS Water Sustainability Project at UVic. An initiative that drives to innovate water and watershed law, policy, and governance reform. They also strive to “generate change towards a sustainable freshwater future.”
Brandes is also an adjunct professor at UVic’s Faculty of Law, and School of Public Administration. Additionally, Brandes is a fellow at the Environmental Law Centre. If you would like to learn more about Brandes’ research on watershed governance, water laws, and much more, they are available to read through our institutional repository, UVicSpace! You may also check out other works published by the POLIS Project in their community collection on UVicSpace.
