In response to the increased water use in recovering shale gas
deposits in the Montney Formation and Horn River Basin in northeast
B.C., the province plans to amend its Water Act to provide for the
licensing of groundwater, among other changes.
The responsibility for licensing water is now divided between the
B.C. provincial government and the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission
("OGC"). Under the Water Act,
the OGC may issue short-term water use approvals, while long-term
water licenses are dealt with by the provincial government.
The OGC currently issues between 250 to 300 short-term, water use
approvals per year. The application process for a short-term water
use approval is about a month. In comparison, there are only about
10 long-term water licenses issued to the oil and gas industry, and
the application process takes about a year to complete.
B.C. is the only province in Canada that still does not license
groundwater. With the advent of horizontal well hydrofracking
operations and its increased draw on water resources, amendments to
the Water Act are a welcome response to the needs of a
burgeoning sector.
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