Younes Alila, an expert on forest hydrology and watershed management at the University of British Columbia, says the province gauges the health of its fresh-water basins and aquifers through a network of monitoring stations, but it has no idea how much water is being drawn by commercial users such as industrial farmers, pulp mills and mines.
Deborah Curran, a scholar on water rights who is also the executive director of the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre, said she has studied hundreds of B.C.’s water-licensing deals and none of them have monitoring conditions.Critics argue that British Columbia should greatly increase the rates charged to companies to use groundwater. The rates have not been hiked since the province created the royalty regime in 2016.
Dr. Adeel said royalty rates should continue to take into account the razor-thin margins of small farmers, for instance, but could also be raised for those using it to irrigate more water-intensive crops or hydrate emission-heavy animals like cattle. Asked whether B.C. is studying raising its royalty rates to spur more conservation, the ministry said “B.C.’s current water fees are in line with other parts of Canada.” The province gave commercial water users until March of last year to apply for a new class of groundwater licences, with the 7,711 applicants who met that deadline still able to draw from their wells or dugouts as their applications are processed, the ministry said.