WHEREAS there appears to be a direction from the provincial government to protect groundwater resources for the long-term benefit of all users; and there are provisions in the Water Act to protect and guide the use of surface water; AND WHEREAS there is not protection for existing or future groundwater users from the potential impacts of groundwater extraction for commercial purposes, or for high volume single-point extraction facilities: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the BC government be requested to develop regulations and programs that would identify, gauge, document and monitor a groundwater resource data base in populated areas of the Province; AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the BC government create a development review process and regulations for the analysis of proposed, and existing commercial water extraction operations or other high volume extractors for the purpose of measuring, delineating and protecting the groundwater resources of British Columbia.
Ministry of Environment The Ministry of Environment is finalizing Phase 2 of the Ground Water Protection Regulation. In the consultation process for the Regulation, all local governments were invited to provide comments on key concepts. Phase 2 will improve one of the two ministry databases on ground water. The WELLs database currently relies on voluntary submission of private well records by drillers. The new provisions will make submission mandatory and will improve the quality and consistency of information relating to reliance on ground water and aquifer location and yield. This information will, in turn, improve the Provinces aquifer mapping capabilities. The second database includes information on ground water levels from the provincial observation well network. The network is currently being reviewed to assess its geographic coverage and its adequacy for monitoring impacts on ground water due to climate change and to increased demand arising from population growth, economic development, etc. With regards to high volume extractors, the government currently evaluates the impact of major withdrawals in the Environmental Assessment permitting process and in the CPCN processes for private utilities. Further, the Province has committed to doing business differently, preparing communities for change and choosing to be water smart in its recently announced Living Water Smart, British Columbias Water Plan. That document outlines governments commitment to develop various measures to assist in addressing ground water extraction including: By 2012, government will regulate ground water use in priority areas and large ground water withdrawals. By 2012, government will require all large water users to measure and report their water use.