Ground Water Resources of British Columbia
Chapter 1 — Introduction
by
J.C. Foweraker
Although British Columbia has immense surface water resources which constitute about one third of Canada's surface water, ground water nevertheless is a very important resource in the province and in some areas it is the only viable and economic source of water supply for individual and community water supply systems as well as for agricultural and industrial uses. Agriculture and industry are the major users of ground water in the province and include irrigation, pulp and paper, fish hatcheries, food processing, mining, chemical, petrochemical industries, parks and airports. It is estimated that a minimum of 250,000 people use ground water in British Columbia.
An estimate of total ground water use in the Province is in the order of 630 million litres per day. (Association of Professional Engineers of B.C., 1985.) The estimated average daily consumption of ground water for municipal water supply systems is estimated at 180 million litres per day or about 12% of the total water consumption in British Columbia. If the water supply for Greater Victoria and Vancouver are excluded, then ground water sources are estimated to supply approximately 25% of the total municipal water demand.
The contribution of ground water to these and other uses continues to grow especially where available surface water supplies are already fully allocated or are too costly to locate or to develop. Ground water supplies tend to be more dependable and of more uniform quality than surface water sources.
In British Columbia permission to use surface water is obtained by license or approval issued under the Water Act, a license, however, is not presently required to use ground water.
The depletion of ground water supplies, conflicts between ground water users and surface water users, as well as the potential for ground water contamination are concerns that will become increasingly important as ground water development takes place in the province in years ahead.
Some measure of ground water resource protection is provided by the many acts, regulations, guidelines, by-laws, standards and objectives enacted over the years by federal, provincial and municipal levels of government. However, to effectively manage the ground water resources of British Columbia will require legislation that is coordinated and integrated with the various levels of government and interest groups involved with its management, protection, development and use and with those who have authority and jurisdiction over activities that impact on the resource.
The purpose of this volume, "Ground Water Resources in British Columbia," is to make an authoritative and informative document on the province's ground water resources readily available to individuals, communities and organizations in British Columbia who presently are using ground water or may do so in the future. It is hoped that this book will assist in future ground water resource planning initiatives at all levels in the public and private sectors. The aim has been to present the information in a form which can be readily understood and used as a reference by individuals, planners, engineers, managers, geologists, water well drillers, students and others requiring information on the resource.
Work on this volume was initiated in 1985 by the senior staff of the Ground Water Section, Water Management Division of B.C. Environment. Early support and approval in principle for the publication of this volume was received from the former Director, Water Management Division (Peter Brady) and the former Deputy Minister of Environment (Ben Marr). Support and encouragement was also received in the very early stages from several ground water professionals working in the province and from other interested individuals. Encouraged by this interest and support, a letter outlining the proposal, together with a proposed classification of ground water regions and sub-regions for the province, and a suggested outline of the proposed contents of the publication along with a request for contributions, was sent out in late 1985 to 25 individuals connected with the ground water field in British Columbia. These 25 individuals were from the private sector, consulting firms, industry, universities, federal and provincial governments; some individuals were members of the International Association of Hydrogeologists, British Columbia Region, the Association of Professional Engineers of British Columbia and the British Columbia Water Well Drilling Association.
The response to the letter and the proposed volume was enthusiastic and in favour of proceeding with the proposal as planned. Verbal and written support and commitments for future contributions to the volume were received including offers from some who were willing to take on the responsibility as task leaders for a chapter or a section and for completing a draft text and illustrations by a proposed deadline. Inevitably the deadlines had to be changed due to the ongoing commitments of many of the contributors. A first draft of the text was finally circulated in February of 1989 to all contributors for review and comments. These comments were subsequently forwarded to the authors concerned for necessary revision. A second draft was circulated in November 1991 for further comments. Final editing was undertaken in the Ground Water Section and Water Management Division.
The completion of this volume and its publication is due to the work and support of the many individuals concerned and to the financial support and services made available through B.C. Environment for preparation of additional material, typing, drafting and publishing of this volume. Authors for each chapter and section have been identified and a complete list of all those individuals who contributed to this volume is included.
Previous publications including Halstead (1967a) and Foweraker et al (1985) have provided some preliminary overview information on the ground water resources of British Columbia as a whole, however, this present volume is the first attempt to provide a detailed and authoritative document on what is currently known of the province's ground water resources.
The completion of this volume and its publication are due to the work and support of the many individuals concerned and to the financial support and services made available through B.C. Environment for preparation of additional material, typing, drafting and publishing of this volume. Authors for each chapter and section have been identified and a complete list of all those individuals who contributed to this volume is included.
A special thanks is given to the following individuals for their assistance in completing this project: Denise Archibald, Sherry Zukiwsky, Joan Greenwood, Lara Marriott and Cheryl Routley for word processing; Bill McGuinnes and Byron Woods for drafting many of the figures; Jean Wood for assembling and completing the final version of this document in Aldus Pagemaker; Rod Zimmerman for preparation and editing of the hypertext version.
Back to Table of Contents
| 
