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Project aims to protect ground water in B.C.’s Peace Region
March 3, 2015 By Ground Water Canada
March 3, 2015, Vancouver – Geoscience BC and several partners have embarked on the
Peace Project, a collaborative effort designed to generate new information about ground water in northeastern B.C.'s Peace
Region.
March 3, 2015, Vancouver – Geoscience BC and several partners have embarked on the
Peace Project, a collaborative effort designed to generate new information about ground water in northeastern B.C.'s Peace
Region.
Peace Project partners include the BC Oil and Gas Commission,
the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers through the Science and
Community Environmental Knowledge fund, ConocoPhillips Canada, Progress
Energy Canada Ltd., the Province of British Columbia, and the Northern
Development Initiative Trust (NDIT).
In response to the Province's March 2014 announcement of the
new Water Sustainability Act to regulate ground water usage, the Peace
Project will produce sound technical knowledge of the region's shallow
aquifers to facilitate effective ground water protection. To achieve
this, Phase I includes a new airborne geophysical survey that will be
flown this year. The survey will cover 8,000 square kilometres within
the Peace Region of northeastern B.C., stretching northwest from Hudson's
Hope and Fort St. John to past Pink Mountain. This survey will collect
data to a depth of 300 metres below the earth's surface, which can then
be used to produce maps of shallow aquifer distribution, quantity and
quality.
Information from the Peace Project will also serve as a key
component of the Northeast Water Strategy, by providing the knowledge to
enable the Strategy's Enhanced Water Monitoring System. The Northeast
Water Strategy is currently under development by the provincial
government in partnership with Treaty 8 First Nations, local
governments, regulatory bodies, and the resource sector.
The Peace River Regional District (PRRD) supported a funding
application that Geoscience BC submitted to NDIT for the Peace Projectin fall 2014. "The members of the PRRD saw the benefit of working with
Geoscience BC to better understand the source and characteristics of
water in our region," said Lori Ackerman, mayor of Fort St. John and chair of the Peace River Regional District, in a news release. "Our region is home to many
competitors for water therefore the value of water is clearly
understood. We are very pleased to support this initiative."
"The collective effort in support of the Peace Project is a
testament to the importance and growing recognition of groundwater
protection to everyone," said Geoscience BC president and chief executive officer Robin Archdekin. "This work will provide the necessary framework for
effective groundwater stewardship by all stakeholders and enable
informed and responsible resource development."
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