Environmental Trends 2002

Status and Trends in Water Use

Trends in Water Allocation Restrictions across British Columbia

Percentage of licensed stream length that is fully allocated or approaching full allocation

SOURCE: B.C. Ministry Sustainable Resource Management, Water Management Branch, Water Allocation Section, November 2001. NOTES: The total stream length licensed in 2001 was used as a denominator to calculate the percentages for all three maps.

Trends in water allocation restrictions across British Columbia

• Since 1950, water licenses have been granted in 67 watershed groups raising the number of watershed groups with licenses to 168, or 68% of the 246 watershed groups in the province. Most of these new licenses have been granted in the northern half of the province.

• In the 1970s, 2 watershed groups had water allocation restrictions on over 40% of the licensed stream length. In 2000, that number increased to 23 watershed groups.

• The majority of water allocation restrictions occur in the southern interior.

• About 97% of water licensed in British Columbia is for power production, including storage for power production. The remaining 3% of water licensed is for consumptive uses such as industrial, commercial, drinking water or agriculture.

What is being done?

• The British Columbia Water Protection Act (1995) prohibits large-scale diversions between watersheds for the export of bulk water.

• The Fresh Water Strategy for British Columbia (1999) consolidates provincial initiatives into one cohesive strategy. Initiatives include: designating sensitive streams under the Fish Protection Act, which restricts the approval of new water licenses; continuing the Water Conservation Strategy (1998), which includes education about low flow plumbing fixtures and use of drought tolerant plants in landscapes; and implementing a three-year Drinking Water Strategy.

For detailed information, including graph data, see In-Depth report [pdf].