The RDN's Volunteer Observation Wells (VOW) Network

It is hard to manage what you don't measure - groundwater is one of those elusive things that is relatively hard to measure, but with the use of groundwater level monitoring equipment, water table depth measurements can be taken on an ongoing basis to understand what is going on underground. This provides a means to observe if water levels are changing over time, to get early warning if supply may be impacted and to better inform development that occurs in our region.

The Drinking Water & Watershed Protection (DWWP) supported two initiatives as a part of this project, a collaboration to expand the B.C. Groundwater Observation Well Network within the region and the creation of the RDN Volunteer Observation Well (VOW) Network.

To expand groundwater level data collection in our region beyond the provincial Observation Wells, 31 private well owners volunteered to have groundwater level monitoring equipment (pressure transducers) installed in their wells. The transducers record level data every 15 minutes; the data is downloaded by RDN staff four times per year. Fourteen of the loggers measure conductivity, to track saline (saltwater) intrusion potential in coastal wells. The monitoring of volunteer wells began in the spring of 2013, with expansions occurring in 2015, 2016 and 2017. It takes a minimum of five - ten years of data collection to begin to discern long-term trends from the information gathered. Since 2020, the RDN has supported annual pre-summer water level analysis reports. The figure below shows the sites included in analysis.

Learn more about the Volunteer Observation Well (VOW) Network at rdn.bc.ca/groundwater-monitoring(External link).