Ground Water Resources of British Columbia
Chapter 9 — Ground Water Resources of the Basins, Lowlands and Plains
9.1.6 QUEEN CHARLOTTE LOWLAND
by
J.C. Foweraker and E. Livingston
The Queen Charlotte Lowland includes the largest part of Graham Island and a minor insignificant area of Moresby Island (see Chapter 8, Figure 8.4). The lowland is bounded on the southwest by a line running from Langara Island to Sandspit. Much of the lowland is covered by muskeg, surrounded by scrubby pine, yellow cypress and small spruce. (Sutherland Brown, 1968). Drainage on the lowland surface is poorly organized (Holland, 1964).
Glacial deposits consisting of till, marine drift, stony clays and outwash sands are distributed throughout. Along the bluffs from Tlell to the Oeanda River these deposits are fairly continuously exposed. There are four main members — a lower marine till, a middle sand, an upper till and an uppermost sand unit (Sutherland Brown, 1968).
Well records for the lowland are limited in number. Wells have been constructed for community water supply, industrial purposes and for the airport and associated services and residential buildings.
Wells constructed at Masset yield 18.9 L/s or more, from sands and gravels at depths less than 18.3 m. Treatment is required for iron in the ground water supply. Wells 30.5 m deep completed in thick 21.3 m sand and gravels, produce between 1.1 and 3.8 L/s at Juskatla. 61 m deep wells completed in layers of sand and gravel 6.1 m thick produce 1.1 to 1.5 L/s at Port Clements. However there are also many marginal domestic wells in this area. At Sandspit wells with reported yields of over 1.1 L/s have been completed at depths less than 18.3 m in layers of sand and gravel less than 6.1 m thick. Iron is a problem in these ground water supplies with reported concentrations often between 0.5 to 1 mg/L and up to 4 mg/L in some instances.
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