BCWWA 2013 Annual Conference Water Resources Series. See video of this presentation at https://vimeo.com/66643832

1. BCWWA
Annual
Conference
2013
Successful Model for
Water Use Management
Throughout BC
Jonathan Lowe, P.Eng
ca.linkedin.com/in/jonolowe
www.bcwaterusereporting.ca

2. 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

3. 3
Presentation Outline
 Background and overview
 Project highlights
 Feedback from existing users
 Reporting centre walk through
 Case studies

4. 4
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

5. 5
“Government will require all large water users
to measure and report their water use.”
Living Water Smart - British Columbia’s Water Plan
livingwatersmart.ca

6. 6

7. 7
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

8. 8
Consultationwith
Okanaganwater
utilities:
OBWBdeveloped
projectadvisory
team
Consultationand
feedbackworkshops
withwaterutilities
andBCministries
Developwebbased
software
Beta-testingof
software
LaunchofWater
UseReporting
Centre
OBWBextension
workwithOkanagan
waterutilities.
Extensionworkto
haveusersprintoff
provincialforms
BCWaterUse
ReportingCentre
updatedOutreach&support
throughBCWater
SupplyAssociation
&Okanaganwater
utilitiesProvincialform
support,introducing
newfeatures
2009 2013
Project Timeline
March
2011

9. 9
“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

10. 10
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

11. 11
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)

12. 12
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

13. 13
"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

14. www.bcwaterusereporting.ca

15. 15

16. 16
<Name>
Insert contact details and name of water system.

17. 17

18. 18

19. 19

20. 20
"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

21. Generate Annual
Water System
Return Form

22. 22
KELOWNA CITY OF All water usage 2009 - 2011
cubic meters (m3)
Printed Dec 03, 2012 Page 1 of 1

23. 23
BLACK MOUNTAIN IRRIGATION DISTRICT All water usage 2010 - 2012
cubic meters (m3)
Printed Dec 03, 2012 Page 1 of 1

24. 24
User Examples

25. 25
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

26. 26
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

27. 27

28. 28
Live Basin
Reservoir
Map

29. 29
New
Reservoir
Level
Recording

30. 30
Hydrometric
Stations

31. 31
Water Use Entry
Contest

32. 32
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

33. 33
Water Use Entry
Contest

34. BCWWA
Annual
Conference
2013
Successful Model for
Water Use Management
Throughout BC
Jonathan Lowe, P.Eng
ca.linkedin.com/in/jonolowe
www.bcwaterusereporting.ca

36. 36
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?

37. 37
Integration with
Supply
and Demand
Study

38. 38
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.”