Is my groundwater well registered? Why should I care?
Is your well used for domestic purposes?
Yes?
It is advisable that you ensure your domestic well is registered with the provincial groundwater well registration system.
Why register my domestic groundwater well?
Domestic well registration ensures your domestic water use is known to the Province, which helps ensure that your use is considered in decision making and during times of water scarcity.
What do I need to do?
Check to see if your domestic well is already registered in the provincial database.
To look up your groundwater well in the GWELLS database, you will need one of:
- street address
- well tag number, or
- ID plate, listed on either your driller’s record, or on the wellhead itself
If your well is not registered in the provincial database, download your registration form and follow the instructions, here.
If your well was constructed or altered after February 29, 2016, and you cannot find your well on the database, please contact Groundwater@gov.bc.ca.
What is a domestic water use?
- drinking water, sanitation, food preparation
- fire prevention
- water for animals (pets, poultry for household use, other animals for household use only)
- irrigation of a garden not exceeding 1000 m2 that is adjoining and occupied with a dwelling
This applies to both drilled wells and dug wells.
What are the benefits of registering a domestic groundwater well?
In the face of increasing groundwater development, ensuring that your groundwater well for domestic purposes is registered with the province will help protect your water rights. Although domestic groundwater users are exempt from licensing and paying provincial water fees and rentals, they are deemed to have rights to the water they use for domestic purposes.
Does this registration mean that I will be charged for my domestic water use and have to pay rental fees to the Province?
No
Will the registration of my groundwater well have any impact on development of new wells by my neighbours?
Not directly, but domestic well registration ensures your domestic water use is known to the Province, which helps ensure that your use is considered in decision making and during times of water scarcity.
Construction and operation of new groundwater wells is regulated by the Groundwater Protection Regulation as part of the British Columbia Water Sustainability Act. The Groundwater Protection Regulation does not involve the charging of rents or fees for water use, however if the new drilled or dug groundwater well is for non-domestic purposes, there is additional regulation by the Province through a process called groundwater licensing.
What is the difference between well registration and groundwater licensing?
Registering your domestic-use well creates a record of your water use, which helps ensure that your use is considered in decision making and during times of water scarcity. You do not require a licence or an approval for domestic water use, and well registration is not a means to regulate domestic groundwater use or volume.
If you divert and use groundwater for non-domestic purposes, such as irrigation (of an area over 1000 metres squared), commercial or industrial use, you must apply for and obtain a water licence and pay water fees and rentals (this change came into force with the Water Sustainability Act (WSA) on February 29, 2016). Licensing specifies how much water you can legally use, and increases the security of your access to that water under the same priority scheme that previously existed only for surface water.
More info:
Domestic Well Registration:
Non-Domestic Groundwater licensing:
Please apply for a groundwater use license for your groundwater well if one or more of the following are “yes” for that particular well:
- You use that groundwater for a business or industrial operation
- You use that groundwater for livestock kept for commercial purpose
- You use that groundwater for irrigation of any planting comprising an area more than 1,000 m2 (1/4 acre)
- The groundwater is used for a waterworks system (ie. multiple dwellings/properties supplied by an individual or entity such as a strata corporation, local government or water utility).
Administrators:
Registration (Salt Spring and Southern Gulf Islands):
GroundWater@gov.bc.ca, 250-751-3100 (Nanaimo)
Non-domestic groundwater use licensing:
Ministry of Forests, West Coast Water Authorizations Section:
FrontCounter BC at 1-877-855-3222 or email FrontCounterBC@gov.bc.ca.