Frequently asked
Questions from well owners
10 questions cover what well owners across Electoral Areas A, B, E and F ask first: why neighbouring wells differ, what the aquifer rating means, what flows at the surface and why, and what records exist. Every answer below names the authority or the aquifer it comes from.
- What is the difference between a bedrock well and a sand-and-gravel well?
- Bedrock wells draw from cracks and fractures in rock; sand-and-gravel wells draw from the spaces between grains. The practical gap is large. Aquifer 161 at Cassidy has a median depth near 13 m and a median yield around 20 US gallons a minute. Aquifer 162 in the bedrock alongside it: about 50 m for about 2.
- Why do two wells on neighbouring lots give different amounts?
- In fractured bedrock, water travels through discrete fractures rather than evenly through the rock. One hole can intersect a productive fracture and the next can miss it. Aquifer 162 records a median yield near 2 US gallons a minute against an average closer to 5, which is the signature of a very wide spread.
- What is a well identification plate?
- A numbered plate obtained from the comptroller and attached to a well on completion of drilling, positioned so the number is plainly visible. It ties the physical well to its record in GWELLS, the Province's public Groundwater Wells and Aquifers database.
- Can an existing well supply a new house?
- Sometimes, and the question is answered by measurement rather than by age. What matters is current yield, water quality and the condition of the casing and seal. A camera survey and a yield test establish all three, and a well with no record on file is not disqualified by that alone.
- What is a flowing artesian well?
- A well where pressure pushes water to the surface without pumping. Records document them near the Nanoose Peninsula, on Nanoose Hill, on Gabriola Island and at Errington. Under the Groundwater Protection Regulation flow must be controlled and the control equipment maintained, and stopping flow during drilling requires demonstrated competency.
- Does the Regional District regulate wells?
- Construction is provincial, under the Groundwater Protection Regulation. The Regional District of Nanaimo runs the Drinking Water and Watershed Protection service — aquifer monitoring, the well water testing and wellhead upgrade rebates, and the wellSMART education programme — and sets groundwater evidence requirements for rezoning un-serviced land.
- What does a "low productivity" aquifer rating mean?
- It is a provincial classification of how much water an aquifer yields, not a judgement about a specific well. Aquifer 220 at Errington is rated low productivity: a median 3 US gallons a minute, an upper quartile of 5 and a lower quartile of 1. Wells work there; the margin is narrow.
- What makes a well go salty?
- Proximity to salt water combined with drawdown. Pumping a coastal well faster than the formation replenishes it draws sea water toward the well. Sea water intrusion is documented at Silva Bay and Degnen Bay on Gabriola Island, and in the Cedar and Yellow Point area, and saltwater intrusion potential is identified in coastal parts of the Nanoose aquifers.
- Can rainwater replace a well?
- Not usually replace, but increasingly supplement. On Gabriola Island a growing number of households collect rooftop rainwater alongside a well, which is a rational response to an aquifer recharged by roughly 199 mm a year — about a fifth of the precipitation that lands on the island.
- What records exist for a well drilled decades ago?
- Possibly none. Reporting requirements are not retroactive, so older wells may have no record in GWELLS at all. That is a gap rather than a fault, and it is filled by a camera survey and a yield test producing current evidence instead of historical evidence.
Find out what is under the property.
Free site assessments across Electoral Areas A, B, E and F.