Getting Smarter with Science
Excellent decisions require excellent information. It’s important to understand our watersheds, their contribution to human health and the environment, and the best ways to protect these resources. Thanks to changes in information systems and the Internet, it’s now possible to provide people with great information in a usable format.
This page will tell you about the B.C. government commitments to improving science and information.
Many provincial government information systems need to be updated for the needs of the 21st century, made more accessible for communities, and B.C.’s ability to monitor, predict and adapt to climate change needs to improve. The low density of water monitoring stations and groundwater observation wells across the province contributes to gaps in water information. Monitoring and reporting helps us to identify areas to focus on, where we are achieving our goals, and where we get maximum benefits from all our activities.
What is the B.C. government doing?
Implementing a water science strategy for B.C.
The provincial government has begun the development of a Water Science Strategy for B.C., which will help guide knowledge and information needs for B.C. and help respond to future water changes. Implementation of the strategy will require participation from many people and organizations in order to help to identify water science opportunities and challenges. This will also allow for better alignment of resources and efforts on projects and activities.
Expanding B.C.’s hydrometric and other climate-related networks.
Climate-related information is crucial to protect public safety, secure economic development, manage the environment sustainably, and adapt to climate change. Information from the water quantity monitoring (hydrometric) network is highly valued by a variety of users for flood warning, water supply, resource management, and other purposes. Communities will benefit from having access to improved climate-related information to help guide response to potential climate change-related effects. This includes water supply conditions which are being altered by climate change through increased frequency and magnitude of extreme conditions such as droughts, floods, and earlier spring melts.
The B.C. government has committed $10 Million between 2007 and 2010 to improve and expand our hydrometric and climate-related networks. Planning has begun and the start of the network improvements is anticipated to begin later in 2008.
Reporting on the state of our water
The B.C. government will expand the scope of water-related reporting to help establish initial benchmarks and monitor progress towards the Living Water Smart goals, with the expectation that by 2012 a state of our water report will be published. The reporting framework will include water quantity and quality, watershed health, and other indicators that help us better understand the state of our water resources.
Current reporting can be found in the Environmental Trends in B.C. reporting series.
Improving Modelling and Analysis:
The B.C. government is working on modelling projects to help improve our understanding of stream flows and hydrology. All projects will help to provide the data and knowledge required to make science-informed decisions around water and land management. They include:
- B.C. and the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium are involved in a two-year Natural Resources Canada-funded project to assess the impacts of Mountain Pine Beetle on hydrology.
- Ministry of Environment is involved in an assessment of the impacts of climate change on hydrology in the Columbia Basin, led by the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington.
- Ministry of Environment is studying groundwater and aquifer science, and water quality conditions.
- The River Forecast Centre is modernizing the Water and Routing Numeric System, which will improve stream flow predictions and provide timelier forecasts and advisories.
What can you do?
Learn more about stream flow and snow monitoring, water quality, groundwater, climate change and river forecasting in B.C. by looking at the links in Data Searches and Information
You can make your own map of water-related information by going to the Water Resources Atlas.
Climate-related information includes the air monitoring network, the hydrometric network, the fire-weather network, the avalanche network and the snow-pillow network.
Top
