BCWWA

Annual

Conference

2013

Successful Model for

Water Use Management

Throughout BC

Jonathan Lowe, P.Eng

ca.linkedin.com/in/jonolowe

www.bcwaterusereporting.ca

Michelle Cook, MASc Project Manager

BC Water Use Reporting Centre

info@bcwaterusereporting.ca

Water Resource Planner - Urban Systems

office 250.762.2517

cell 250.215.1774

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Presentation Outline

Background and overview

Project highlights

Feedback from existing users

Reporting centre walk through

Case studies

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Project Partners

Ministry of Environment

Ministry of Agriculture and Lands

Ministry of Forest, Lands and Resource Operations

Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development

Okanagan Water Purveyors Nanaimo Water Purveyors

Software Developers

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“Government will require all large water users to measure and report their water use.”

Living Water Smart - British Columbia’s Water Plan

livingwatersmart.ca

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Project Overview

Website: www.bcwaterusereporting.ca

Online reporting system

Improve the accuracy and timeliness of water usage reports

Make reporting water use easier for water purveyors

Supports XML or CSV data formats

Facilitate more frequent reporting

Integration with SCADA systems

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Project Timeline

March 2011

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“Reporting water use makes sense. You can’t manage what you don’t measure.”

- Conrad Pryce, Section Head, Water Allocation, B.C. Ministry of Forest, Lands and Natural Resource Operations

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Top Highlights of the BC Water Use Reporting Program

• Year 2 of Pilot = success

• 16 consistent water utility users

• All 3 Okanagan Regional Districts

• Prints the provincial annual water systems return form

• Enhanced data security

• Live basin reservoir map and new reservoir recording

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Top Highlights of the BC Water Use Reporting Program

• New water use reports and bar graphs for internal or external use

• Viewer accounts available

• Integration with Supply and Demand Study data available

• Media material (brochure, video, new material on OBWB website)

• Updated user guide (available on website)

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Water Utility Users

• City of Armstrong • BMID • RDCO (3) • Kaleden Irrigation District • City of Kelowna • RDNO (5) • Okanagan Falls Irrigation

District • RDOS (4)

• Town of Oliver • District of Peachland • City of Penticton • Skaha Estates • SEKID • District of Summerland • Town of Osoyoos • WFN

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"It is worth the time to get familiar with the system, as it provides a convenient and secure location to store the data and have the ability to trend it once it is loaded, and it makes it easy to stay on track with the data entry. Overall I am quite impressed with the usefulness of the system.”

– Alistair Wardlaw,

District of Summerland,

Water Supply Technician

www.bcwaterusereporting.ca

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<Name>

Insert contact details and name of water system.

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"The BC Water Use Reporting Centre allows utilities to provide current water use data and access historic data for trending. And just as importantly, we are able to see what other water utilities in the valley are extracting, helping us work together and manage our common water resource.”

– Bob Hrasko, Water Supply Association of B.C Vice-Chair and Black Mountain Irrigation District (BMID) Administrator

Generate Annual Water System Return Form

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KELOWNA CITY OF All water usage 2009 - 2011

cubic meters (m3)

Printed Dec 03, 2012 Page 1 of 1

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BLACK MOUNTAIN IRRIGATION DISTRICT All water usage 2010 - 2012

cubic meters (m3)

Printed Dec 03, 2012 Page 1 of 1

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User Examples

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User Example: RDOS • The RDOS has produced a Regional Growth Strategy in the

past years that includes water usage for some of the larger water purveyors in the District. – RDOS was recently looking for water usage data from the following

purveyors:

• City of Penticton

• District of Summerland

• Town of Oliver

• Town of Osoyoos

– They asked - Which of these purveyors are currently using the BC Water Use Reporting tool? All of them!

• “Our hope is to contact those purveyors who are actively using the site and request a user account be setup for the RDOS to be able to access this data annually.” - RDOS

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Latest Features

• Live basin reservoir map

• New reservoir level recording

• Enhanced security

• Integration with Supply and Demand study

• New water use reports and bar graphs for internal or external use

• Hydrometric stations (historical data being uploaded for the local hydrometric data warehouse project)

• Water Use Entry Contest

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Live Basin Reservoir Map

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New Reservoir Level Recording

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Hydrometric Stations

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Water Use Entry Contest

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Options for the Future

• Link to the provincial wastewater return online system

• Create reservoir graph report - consistent reporting to newspapers across the Okanagan Basin (RDNO)

• News Release Bulletin (OBWB) – similar to the River Forecast Centre’s Snow Survey and Water Supply Bulletin

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Water Use Entry Contest

BCWWA

Annual

Conference

2013

Successful Model for

Water Use Management

Throughout BC

Jonathan Lowe, P.Eng

ca.linkedin.com/in/jonolowe

www.bcwaterusereporting.ca

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User Example: RDNO and Coldstream Ranch

• RDNO supplies water to Coldstream Ranch, but Coldstream Ranch still has legal holding on those licences – How we integrate that kind of structure into the program has been a

challenge.

• Is RDNO responsible for reporting the water use of Coldstream Ranch to the province?

• Does RDNO report its water use amount including the water used by Coldstream Ranch? Or minus the water used by Coldstream Ranch?

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Integration with Supply and Demand Study

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User Example: RDCO

• Regional District of Central Okanagan is responsible for 5 water utilities:

– 3 surface water utilities

– 2 ground water utilities

• RDCO has chosen to use the program for reporting water use for the 3 surface water utilities only

• Reason: “The amount of ground water used is not monitored by the province, so I will report on it when it is necessary.”