Malaspina study to identify vulnerable water supplies

Judith Lavoie
Times Colonist
Friday, January 04, 2008

Contamination from old industrial sites, seeping animal waste, pesticides or fertilizers can pollute wells and poison aquifers, but, too often, developers, planners and politicians have little information about groundwater threats.
Regan Purdy, senior research assistant at Malaspina University-College, hopes that is about to change on Vancouver Island, as a team of Malaspina researchers produces detailed maps showing areas where human activities might affect groundwater and threaten the quality of drinking water.
The maps will be a good preventive tool for city planners and the information could stop development in its tracks in some vulnerable areas, Purdy said.
"It's a huge study and the facts will be there, so, if they did build in a vulnerable area and had major water problems, it could backfire. This [study] could protect them and, the biggest thing for everyone on Vancouver Island, is that it protects our groundwater," she said.
The Vancouver Island Water Resource Vulnerability Mapping Project team has almost completed groundwater studies in the regional districts of Cowichan Valley and Nanaimo and, over the next four to six years, is hoping to map all of Vancouver Island.
The study should help with land-use planning and with developing groundwater protection guidelines and policies, Purdy said.
"We'll also identify and compile an inventory of potential hazards and sources of contamination to water sources for the region, including old gas stations and landfill sites," she said.
The project includes professors and students from Malaspina's chemistry, geology and geography departments, with expertise and funding from the provincial environment and health ministries, Vancouver Island Health Authority, Natural Resources Canada, Islands Trust and Vancouver Island regional districts.
It is headed by Malaspina geography professor Alan Gilchrist, a geographic information systems specialist who will use his expertise to help create the maps.
So far, local governments in the Nanaimo and Cowichan areas have been enthusiastic about the study and Purdy is hoping that as the project grows other regional governments will be equally supportive.
"I will be telling them what we have done in those two regions and how it can benefit them," she said.
"We have met some people who don't want to know, because they want to continue developing, but not too many."
Rapid development and population growth on Vancouver Island mean that the quantity of water has to be protected as well as the quality, Purdy said.
"Water is becoming a big issue worldwide and, on Vancouver Island, more people are putting more pressure on water resources," she said.
More than 20,000 private wells supply drinking water to homeowners and municipalities on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, said chemistry professor Erik Krogh.
The well water comes from aquifers with different characteristics, some of which can make them particularly vulnerable to contamination from human activities on the surface, he said.
"Once contaminated, aquifers are extremely difficult to remediate and alternate sources are often at great expense to the users," Krogh said.
Geological and hydro-geological information from public and private sources will be used to compile the maps, which, eventually, will categorize all aquifers on Vancouver Island that are deemed vulnerable.
"We'll have low, medium and high ratings on the map, which will tell the user that a particular area is high risk for future development," Purdy said.