PlaceDossier / BC places / Aquifers

BC aquifers, well by well

An aquifer is the underground water a well draws from. Each aquifer the province has mapped has a page here: how much water its wells tend to give, how easily a spill at the surface could reach it, how heavily it is already used, and how deep its wells go and what they yield, against BC's other aquifers. About two in three are in sand and gravel; the rest are in bedrock.

What the ratings mean

Productivity

How much water the aquifer gives up to wells, judged from well yields, the aquifer material and pumping tests. High: wells here tend to yield well: the guide puts high productivity at coarse sand and gravel, or typical well yields over about 3 L/s (180 L/min).

Vulnerability

How easily something spilled at the ground surface could reach the water, judged from what lies above the aquifer and how deep the water is. High: little natural protection (the guide's class A): a shallow water table or sand and gravel above it lets surface water and spills soak down quickly.

Demand

How much the aquifer is used now, judged from the number and density of wells and what they're used for. High: heavily used: where homes rely on private wells, the guide's heavy band is over 20 domestic wells per km².

Top of each ranking

Every mapped aquifer, by regional district

The province maps aquifers where wells and studies give enough to go on, mostly in settled valleys; most of BC isn't mapped, and a lot outside every outline can still have groundwater. Outlines are drawn from geology and well logs at the scale of the study, so an edge can be well off on the ground, and one aquifer can lie under another. Wells are linked to an aquifer by provincial staff from the driller's log: not every well inside an outline is linked, and well depths and yields are as the driller reported them, often from a short test.

These are mapped ratings and drillers' records, not a test of any one lot. Before you buy a property on a well, or plan to drill, ask a qualified hydrogeologist or a registered well driller what this aquifer gives where you are, and test the water.

Sources: Ground Water Aquifers, Water Protection and Sustainability Branch, Province of BC and Groundwater Wells (GWELLS), Province of BC, as published on October 1, 2026 (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); ratings explained after Berardinucci and Ronneseth (2002), Guide to Using the BC Aquifer Classification Maps for the Protection and Management of Groundwater, BC Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection. Summaries by PlaceDossier.