WC136 MayJune 2024 - Magazine - Page 29
Nunavut
The Nunavut Water Board is an arm’s length agency—one
of a number of land and resource management bodies in
the territory. The board is responsible for managing and
regulating fresh water and inland water resources and as part
of that duty, it issues licences for water use.
Upon request, the Nunavut Water Board supplied Water
Canada with some additional information beyond what
was available online. In 2022, the top 10 water users in the
territory are municipalities, government organizations, and
mining companies. On average, they used 23,050 cubic
metres per day of consumptive water. The majority of the
water—56.5 per cent—was used by Baffinland Iron Mines
Corporation (3,400 cubic metres per day), Agnico Eagle
Mines Limited (6,900 cubic metres per day), and B2Gold
(2,700 cubic metres per day).
Northwest Territories
In the Northwest Territories, water falls under the purview of
the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change. On
the ministry’s website, water information is listed under the
programs and services page. That’s where water monitoring bulletins, spring outlooks and snow surveys can be found. It’s also
the place for finding information about the NWT Youth Water
Stewardship and Mentorship Grant Program, the Taiga Environmental Laboratory (which conducts water and soil analyses)
and the water management and monitoring program.
While the water management section offers up information
about transboundary water agreements and explains the approach the territory takes to water stewardship, it doesn’t contain statistical information regarding actual or licensed usage.
Yukon
Like the Nunavut Water Board, the Yukon Water Board is
an independent body. It issues licences for water usage and
promotes conservation. The Yukon Water Board Secretariat
offers administrative support for the board.
Julie Mahusky is a data management specialist with the
Yukon Water Board Secretariat and is the person who provided data to Water Canada. According to Mahusky, the board
doesn’t track consumptive vs. non-consumptive use. It also
doesn’t record total usage by licence holders, only how much
each licence allows the holder to draw.
She also compiled some usage data which shows that placer
mining—looking for minerals in rivers—is responsible for
a whopping 72 per cent of that daily authorized use in the
territory. In comparison, hydro power generation uses just 16
per cent while municipal usage accounts for three per cent.
Hard rock quartz mining is responsible for one per cent of
daily usage.
British Columbia
In British Columbia water management is the responsibility
of the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship,
and while there is an online water licence search tool
which lists how much water companies and organizations
are permitted to use, Peter Lee, public affairs officer and
media relations lead for the ministry, explained that “data
from licensees of exact volume use is not publicly available
information, though licensees such as local government may
post this information on their own websites.”
With a bit of data analysis, however, it is possible to put
together a snapshot of the heaviest corporate users of water—
at least according to how much their licences permit them to
draw. It’s a mix that includes mining companies (Teck Coal,
BW Gold), farming and livestock production (Brendon Nesbitt-Rathwell, Floyd Jackson, 374815 BC Ltd.), fresh-water
bottling (Randal L Martin), industrial cooling (0892818 BC
Ltd) and power generation.
374815 BC Ltd.
36,901,848
British Columbia Hydro
and Power Authority
12,569,356
734554 Alberta Ltd.
4,371,000
Brendon Nesbitt-Rathwell
2,530,440
BW Gold Ltd.
2,178,645
Paden Sheldon
1,237,200
0892818 BC Ltd
617,220
Randal L Martin
497,860
Floyd Jackson
451,440
Teck Coal Ltd Fording River Operations
347,380
Overall, the breakdown of usage by sector in B.C. looks
like this: commercial industries use 16 per cent, conservation
accounts for 15 per cent, industrial and agricultural operations both are responsible for 12 per cent of total usage,
municipalities use one per cent, and the remaining 44 per
cent falls into the other category.
Top Non-Municipal Water Takers in British Columbia (2023)
374815 BC Ltd.
British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority
734554 Alberta Ltd.
Brendon Nesbitt-Rathwell
Total Litres Taken
(100,000 Cubic Metres per Day)
BW Gold Ltd.
Paden Sheldon
0892818 BC Ltd
Randal L Martin
Floyd Jackson
Teck Coal Ltd Fording River Operations
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
Source: Government of British Columbia
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
WATER C AN ADA • M AY/JUNE 2024
29
