Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 71.36
Liaison Michael Chapman
Submission Date Sept. 20, 2023

STARS v2.2

Nova Scotia Community College
OP-22: Rainwater Management

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 2.00 Anna Jessop
Sustainable Development Coordinator
Facilities and Engineering
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Which of the following best describes the institution’s approach to rainwater management?:
Less comprehensive policies, plans or guidelines that incorporate green infrastructure

A brief description of the institution’s green infrastructure and LID practices:
Stormwater management initiatives used at all NSCC campuses include grading parking lots so stormwater can run-off into vegetated areas. Some campuses use cisterns to collect the stormwater and use it for irrigation of gardens; while other campuses use swales to collect stormwater run-off where it is filtered and directed to retention ponds. Any work that is to be done must be completed to provincial guidelines.

Ivany Campus has a highly visible bioswale between the main building and the main parkign lot. This bioswale helps capture stormwater and retain it as it infiltrates. This reduces the amount of demand on the city system and reduces the flow of surface water to the Halifax harbour which is located just behind the campus following a steep slope.

NSCC's Lunenburg Campus has also installed two bioswales one on the North side of the Campus and the other on the Southside of the campus. These were installed in partnership with local junior high students who assisted with planting the bioswale vegetation and learned about water management.

A copy of the institution’s rainwater management policy, plan, and/or guidelines:
A brief description of the institution’s rainwater management policy, plan, and/or guidelines that supports the responses above:
Through sustainability policy, NSCC is committed to supporting environmentally friendly practices. Our campuses institute a variety of strategies to manage rainwater - both velocity and quality. This is a requirement of NSCC's BOMA BEST certification.

The College has completed a Low Impact Development Strategy the strategy includes considerations that will be taken when choosing new infrastructure, timelines for performing campus stormwater assessments and continual improvement of low impact development. The strategy outlines a ten year plan to improve campus resilience and increase the use of low impact development into campus planning. The sustainability team has also created an internal guide to LID practices that will be used to guide campus planning decision-makers when selecting appropriate LID practices.

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the institution’s green infrastructure and LID practices is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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