Regional District of Nanaimo

Water Source and Water Vulnerability Assessment – Area A

GW Solutions has led a project, in partnership with Vancouver Island University, consisting of providing guidance to the Regional District of Nanaimo on best management practices (BMPs) for land development, taking into consideration the impact land development may have on the quality and the quantity of the water resource. For this project, the following has been completed:

• Assessment of the present and future water demand;
• Definition of the water source;
• Definition of a regional water balance;
• Definition of the vulnerability of the aquifers, using the DRASTIC method;
• Assessment of the hazards to water quality;

This work will result in the proposal of practical BMPs that will be integrated in the Official Community Plan (OCP) for the present and future protection of the water source.

The report is available on the RDN website or can be downloaded here (25MB, PDF)

Figure 1: Hydrogeological cross-section showing confined and unconfined aquifers. (click to enlarge)

Figure 2: Groundwater elevation, general direction of the groundwater flow, and identified groundwatersheds. (click to enlarge)

Figure 3: Estimated vulnerability of the groundwater resource. (click to enlarge)