A new B.C. water commission to streamline water use reporting and connect water licence rental fees with water management needs is being proposed by the Okanagan Basin Water Board (OBWB). Such a commission would be self-funded and would also be able to provide grants for water projects with only slight increase in current water license fees, according to an independent business case prepared by accounting firm Grant Thornton. According to provincial figures, these fees are currently so low they would add less than a dollar a year to residential water bills.

At Tuesday’s meeting of the OBWB, board members voted to send a letter to Steve Thomson, B.C. Minister of Forest, Land and Natural Resource Operations, along with three background papers: the business case for such an agency, an overview of a Water Use Reporting Centre similar to what’s in operation in the Okanagan, and case studies of water use reporting in other jurisdictions around the world.

The letter refers to the new Water Sustainability Act introduced in the B.C. legislature in March, and the type of new services that will be required to carry out some of the provisions in the new act. A water commission would be ideally suited to ensure new groundwater regulations and other new provisions can be carried out, said Nelson Jatel, the OBWB’s Water Stewardship Director.

Building on previous senior and local government investments to develop the Water Use Reporting Centre in the Okanagan, we are in a unique situation to develop a new model that supports sustainable water management, economic development and provides a world-class system for BC.