Issues and Challenges for the Water Act

Some of the issues and challenges for the Water Act to consider are:

Water Governance: B.C. currently uses a traditional centralized decision making model for water governance. The Water Act could better enable local planning and stewardship groups to implement locally developed solutions.
Trans-boundary Issues: Rivers in British Columbia flow across provincial and international boundaries. Management of water in B.C. is affected by international laws, reinforcing the need to sustain agreements, collaboration and partnerships with our neighbouring jurisdictions.
First Nations and Treaty Settlements: Water resources will remain an important part of B.C.’s First Nations treaty negotiations, which may result in changes to water allocation and management.
Watershed health: Fish stocks and aquatic habitats are declining in many streams and rivers as a result of water quality issues and water temperature increases caused by diminished flow.
Climate change: Future climate predictions for B.C. vary from region to region but include warmer and wetter winters, earlier snowmelts, and longer, drier summers, impacting demands for water in communities and industrial sectors, and particularly agriculture sectors that are highly dependant on irrigation.
Drinking Water: The Drinking Water Protection Act governs the provision of safe, clean drinking water in B.C. Water suppliers are ultimately responsible for drinking water quality but do not have adequate tools to protect water sources and have little say in activities in their source watersheds.
Growth pressures and increasing demand: Demands on water supplies will continue to increase as the population of B.C grows by more than 30% in the next 25 years.
Insufficient Knowledge: Currently, around 44,000 surface water licences are active but government’s data on compliance with conditions or how much water is actually being used is not robust.
Groundwater: Groundwater use in British Columbia is not currently regulated but groundwater resources are increasingly being sought as the source of choice, particularly in areas where surface water supplies are already limited or fully allocated.