Electoral Areas A, B, E and F
Where we drill
Coverage runs across Electoral Areas A, B, E and F of the Regional District of Nanaimo — Cedar and Yellow Point, Gabriola Island, Nanoose Bay, and Errington and Coombs — plus the City of Parksville. About half of the district's residents rely on groundwater, and the Regional District monitors 22 aquifers through a network of 62 observation wells.
The rig travels; the ground does not. What changes from one part of the district to the next is what is under it — fractured sedimentary rock in most places, sand and gravel in a few, and a very different well in each case.
Bedrock or sand and gravel
The Regional District monitors 9 bedrock aquifers and 13 sand-and-gravel aquifers. The difference is not academic. At Cassidy, sand and gravel sits at a median well depth of about 13 m and gives roughly 20 US gallons a minute. In the bedrock immediately east at Cedar and Yellow Point, the median is about 50 m for around 2 gallons a minute — roughly four times the depth for a tenth of the water. Errington sits on Haslam Formation shale at a median 60 m for about 3 gallons a minute, and Gabriola Island on Nanaimo Group rock at a median near 105 feet. Knowing which one a property sits on is the difference between a quote and a guess.
What the records say before anyone drills
Every well drilled in British Columbia since the reporting requirement came in has a record, and those records are public in GWELLS. For a given aquifer they give a median depth, a median yield and the spread around both, which is the closest thing to a forecast that exists. Aquifer 220 at Errington has 325 wells on record, a median depth of 60 m and a median yield of 3 US gallons a minute, with a lower quartile of 1 and dry holes logged past the median. Aquifer 709 on Gabriola Island has over a thousand, a median near 105 feet and a median yield around 4.5. The Regional District adds the trend: its monitoring network reported 16 of 22 aquifers below normal heading into summer 2026, and Errington measured about 0.32 m of decline per year over one five-year window. None of that predicts a specific hole. All of it narrows the range before money is spent.
Areas we serve
- CedarElectoral Area A, fractured DeCourcy Formation sandstone, with sand and gravel at Cassidy giving ten times the yield next door.
- Nanoose BayElectoral Area E, bedrock on the hill and sand and gravel below it, with flowing artesian wells documented near the peninsula.
- Gabriola IslandElectoral Area B, fractured sedimentary rock, with sea water intrusion documented at Silva Bay and Degnen Bay.
- Errington & CoombsElectoral Area F, Haslam Formation shale, low productivity, with fluoride and sulphur among the known water quality issues.
- ParksvilleCity of Parksville, sand and gravel aquifers with yields well above bedrock, and flowing artesian conditions in the Quadra Sand.
Also covered: Yellow Point, Cassidy, South Wellington, Whiskey Creek, Hilliers and Mudge Island.
What is under one property is not what is under the next, and the aquifer records only narrow it down. To find out what a specific address is likely to give, book a site assessment.
Find out what is under the property.
Free site assessments across Electoral Areas A, B, E and F.