Seasonal conditions for Gabriola aquifer considered below average

Rachelle Stein-Wotten

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder

Groundwater monitoring wells on Gabriola showed a mix of springtime conditions.

The Regional District of Nanaimo board of directors received a staff report at their June 25 meeting providing pre-summer groundwater analysis from across the RDN. Of the 22 aquifers in the RDN that have spring monitoring data, five are at above average levels for the time of year, nine are at average levels and eight are reporting below average levels, according to a staff report.

“This is in the context of a drier than average winter and an unusually low snowpack accumulation with little to no contribution of snowmelt in the early spring,” the report says.

On Gabriola, there are four provincial observation wells and one volunteer observation well; the latter is located on the south of the island. The April to June monitoring indicates seasonally below average conditions within an increasing or stable historic trend. The five monitoring wells are reporting from below average to above average for the season.

Electoral Area A Director Jessica Stanley asked staff to clarify why some areas have a variable analysis.

“It’s really hard to do a snapshot in bedrock,” Erica Forssman, RDN program coordinator for the drinking water & watershed protection program, said. “We can have some observation wells that are increasing and some that are decreasing.”

Aquifers in the RDN are a mix of sand/gravel and bedrock aquifers. Gabriola Island is bedrock.

The 2013-24 historical groundwater trend from Gabriola’s monitoring wells indicate a stable to moderate decline. One observation well, 316 located near Oyster Way, has an increasing historical trend while the remaining four are considered stable.

“Where trends indicate declining levels over time, as well as below average seasonal levels, it points not only to the need for increased water conservation measures going into the summer period but also to the longer-term need to encourage groundwater recharge across the landscape, supplement water storage and practice water efficiency year-round,” the RDN report says. “Increasing trends and above average seasonal levels may help to indicate where water management actions are having a positive effect.”