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Well testing, camera surveys and yield measurement
The numbers a buyer, a lender or a rezoning application will ask for.
A well test produces a number rather than an impression. For rezoning of un-serviced land the Regional District of Nanaimo requires 3.5 cubic metres per day per new parcel, demonstrated by pumping at no less than 2.5 litres per minute for the greater of 12 hours or until the water level stabilises, with testing carried out between July and October.
Everything about a well is invisible from the surface, which is why the questions that matter at a sale, a subdivision or a mortgage are all evidence questions. A camera shows condition. A pump test shows capacity. A lab shows what the water carries.
Testing is priced on what the result has to prove. A camera survey before a purchase and a supervised pump test for a rezoning application are different pieces of work with different standards attached, and the second carries a professional's interpretation with it.
What a camera survey shows
A downhole camera records casing condition, the depth water enters, obstructions, sediment accumulation and the state of any screen. It is the difference between "the well seems slow" and knowing that the casing has failed at 12 m, or that the pump is sitting in sediment. Nothing in the regulation requires a camera survey; it is simply the cheapest way to stop guessing.
Pump testing, and the standard that applies
Where a pumping test is required, it must be performed or directly supervised by a professional with competency in hydrogeology, who interprets the results. For rezoning of un-serviced land the Regional District sets the bar explicitly: 3.5 cubic metres per day per new parcel, a test at no less than 2.5 litres per minute run for the greater of 12 hours or until stabilisation, a 6-hour recovery to within 90 per cent of the pre-pumping level, and testing only between July and October — the months when the aquifer is at its lowest.
Water quality is a separate question
Yield says nothing about what the water carries. The Regional District's Well Water Testing Rebate covers half of lab analysis costs up to $350, once per well every five years, and its required parameter list is a fair guide to what matters here: total coliform, E. coli, pH, total dissolved solids, hardness, nitrate, nitrite, sulphate, fluoride, chloride and a metals scan. HealthLink BC recommends bacteriological testing at least once a year, and immediately if clarity, colour or taste changes.
Testing work quoted
Downhole camera survey
Casing condition, water entry, obstructions and sediment recorded on video.
Yield and pump testing
Drawdown and recovery measured against the standard the purpose requires.
Pre-purchase well report
Condition, capacity and records assembled into one written result.
How a well gets evidenced
- 1
Records first — the existing well log and any alteration records from GWELLS.
- 2
Camera survey — casing, water entry, obstructions and sediment recorded on video.
- 3
Pump test — drawdown and recovery measured against the standard the purpose requires.
- 4
Written result — the figures, and what they mean for the use being proposed.
What the water carries here
Groundwater here carries things worth measuring. Aquifer 220 at Errington has recorded fluoride up to 2.90 milligrams per litre, along with wells reporting a sulphur smell and, in some records, salty water. Aquifer 162 at Cedar and Yellow Point shows fluoride above the Canadian drinking water guidelines in places, common high sulphur, coliform in some wells, and reported sea water intrusion. On Gabriola Island, sea water intrusion has been documented at Silva Bay and Degnen Bay. None of that is visible from a tap.
In practice
- Situation
- A Gabriola Island property under contract, with a well and no test on record.
- Complication
- The bay location put sea water intrusion in play, and the buyer's lender wanted evidence rather than assurance.
- Resolution
- A camera survey and a lab panel covering chloride, total dissolved solids and the bacteriological parameters. The result closed the question in writing, one way, before subjects came off.
People also ask
What does the Regional District require for a rezoning?
3.5 cubic metres per day per new parcel, demonstrated by pumping at no less than 2.5 litres per minute for the greater of 12 hours or until the water level stabilises, a 6-hour recovery to within 90 per cent, and testing between July and October.
Who is allowed to carry out a pump test?
Where a pumping test is required under the Groundwater Protection Regulation it must be performed or directly supervised by a professional with competency in hydrogeology, who also interprets the results.
How often should well water be tested?
HealthLink BC recommends bacteriological testing at least once a year, and immediately if clarity, colour or taste changes. The Regional District of Nanaimo, citing Island Health, advises bacteria every six months and chemical parameters every three to five years.
Is there a rebate for water testing?
The Regional District of Nanaimo's Well Water Testing Rebate covers 50 per cent of lab analysis costs up to $350, once per well every five years, for residential landowners with a private domestic well.
A test answers one of two questions — whether the well can be recovered, what a new well involves, what drives the cost and wells on Gabriola Island.
Find out what is under the property.
Free site assessments across Electoral Areas A, B, E and F.