NOGWCA: North Okanagan Groundwater characterization and Assessment

UBC Okanagan is a partner in the North Okanagan Groundwater Characterization and Assessment project. This is a three year study funded by the Canada-British Columbia Water Supply Expansion program made available through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). The project partners include:

• Lead: BC Ministry of Environment: Water Stewardship Division
• Natural Resources Canada: Geological Survey of Canada
• Agriculture Canada
• BC Ministry of Agriculture
• University of British Columbia Okanagan
• Simon Fraser University
• Township of Spallumcheen
• City of Armstrong
• North Okanagan Regional District

Purpose:
The human population in the Okanagan Valley is expected to increase considerably over the next 15 years with projected growth from 300,000 to about 500,000. Increased human demand for water, coupled with agricultural demand and potential climate change impact are expected to stress future water supply in parts of the valley. Limited opportunities for additional surface water supply have resulted in increased interest in potential groundwater sources to meet growing demand in areas of the valley.

Water resource management in the North Okanagan is complex, with systems originally built to serve an agricultural community now under pressure from urban demand. The hydrology is characterized as highly variable from year to year and susceptible to droughts. However, the overriding issue facing the area is lack of a strategy to enhance water availability, while protecting water resources in the North Okanagan. Compounding the issue is a lack of information about the link between surface and ground water flows, and a lack of shared information between land use and water resource decision makers.

Work to Date

Since 2005, the study has conducted well surveys and water usage surveys, taken water quality samples, measured stream flows, examined the geology of the North Okanagan and studied the aquifer systems that underlie the valley floor. Future water demand scenarios have been considered with projected population growth and climate change.

Next Phase:

The next phase of the study will create a groundwater computer model of the Deep Creek and Spallumcheen areas to model current and future water demands. The first phase of the modeling effort is to be completed in April 2008.

NSERC Strategic Grant:

Our long-term objective is to improve understanding of total water resources in community-based watersheds. The objectives of this research are: 1) to examine how the human water demand in the Deep Creek watershed will respond to changes in product prices (crop, timber), water pricing policies, and water use regulations; and 2) to test how human water demand and climate change affect watershed resource sustainability.

Specific objectives of the research are: 1) to quantify the water exchanges between surface water, shallow aquifers and deep aquifers using isotopic and geochemical tracing techniques; 2) to project future water demands from environmental and economic aspects, as influenced by climate change; 3) to develop spatially varied recharge estimates at a watershed scale; 4) to incorporate the above results into an integrated surface water and groundwater model (MIKE SHE or FEFLOW plus MIKE 11); and 5) to conduct simulations based on climate change and increasing water demand scenarios to assess water sustainability in the Deep Creek Watershed.

North Okanagan Mapping Project Aquifer Delineation (Monahan, 2006) and NOGWCA Survey Well Locations

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