Water Stewardship Information Sources
| Citation | Liggett, JE., Lapcevic P, Miller K. 2011. A Guide to the Use of Intrinsic Aquifer Vulnerability Mapping |
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| Organization | FLNRO |
| URL | http://cvrd.bc.ca/DocumentCenter/Home/View/7838 |
| Abstract/Description or Keywords | Over 1 million (25%) of British Columbians rely on groundwater for their daily use, and this number continues to increase1 . Groundwater provides water for drinking, agriculture, industry, and is vital to the functioning of many streams, lakes, and wetlands. Sound water management practices can help protect the quality of groundwater resources for future generations. To aide in land use decision-making for the protection of groundwater quality, intrinsic aquifer vulnerability maps have been developed for a number of areas of BC with the DRASTIC method, including the Okanagan, Grand Forks, the Fraser Valley, and Vancouver Island. Intrinsic aquifer vulnerability is used describe the relative degree of natural protection of the groundwater from contamination due to the physical characteristics of the land and subsurface2,3,4. Governments, planners, and policymakers can utilize the maps for various purposes such as to assist in land use decisionmaking, sustainable development planning, source water protection planning, identifying sensitive areas, prioritizing areas for further monitoring or protection, and educating the public3,5,6. The intrinsic vulnerability maps are conducted at a regional scale and should be used as a screening tool. They are not meant to replace site investigations or to be used for lot scale assessment. Areas of high intrinsic vulnerability offer less natural protection than areas of low or moderate vulnerability; therefore, land use activities which pose a high hazard should be discouraged from these areas, or require much more stringent hydrogeological assessment and reporting requirements to ensure prevention of contamination is maximized. This combination of intrinsic vulnerability with the hazard threat is one method of groundwater quality risk assessment, which accounts for other factors that influence the potential for contamination in an area rather than just the natural (intrinsic) vulnerability. This document provides examples of uses of the intrinsic vulnerability maps in land use planning and source water protection, using the South Cowichan area of Vancouver Island as an example. It draws on a number of previously published resources including the BC Well Protection Toolkit21 , the BC Comprehensive Drinking Water Source-to-Tap Assessment Guideline22 , and the BC Groundwater Bylaws Toolkit23 . In this example the intrinsic vulnerability is combined with potential sources of contamination (hazards) to develop a series of levels of hydrogeological reporting requirements for new development permits or zoning applications. The intrinsic vulnerability maps are also combined with previously mapped well capture zones. Monitoring and reporting requirements of existing developments can also be related to the level of intrinsic vulnerability and land-use type for the ongoing protection of groundwater resources in the community. land use planning; monitoring; educating public; natural protection of groundwater from contamination due to the physical characteristics of the land and subsurface |
| Information Type | report |
| Regional Watershed | Province |
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| Project status | complete |
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