Yes. A household well in British Columbia needs no licence, and that does not put it outside the Act in a drought. The Province’s page on water use during scarcity says that when first in time, first in right is enforced on a source because of scarcity, “domestic users may be among those users whose right to divert and use water is restricted.” The floor was laid out on the same page: “Domestic users will not be prohibited from continuing to divert and use up to 250 litres per day per dwelling for essential household use.”
How it works. Every licence and use approval carries a date of precedence, and the earliest date has the first right to the water that is available. When there is not enough for everyone, decision makers may issue orders under section 93 of the Act to enforce that order, and those orders “may affect water licence and use approval holders, domestic users and transitioning groundwater applicants who have not yet received a decision on their application.” Temporary protection orders are a separate tool, used to curtail water users to protect aquatic ecosystems.
Where a household well stands. Domestic groundwater users “are deemed to have rights to the water they use for domestic purposes,” by the Province’s page for groundwater users. It strongly encourages registering a domestic well because registration “helps to ensure that your water use is considered in decision-making and during times of water scarcity.”
The Note: Two hundred and fifty litres a day is the house, not the yard. In a bad summer on a stressed source, a registered domestic well is on the record, while an unregistered one is just a guess.
Who should pay attention: Households on their own well in BC, especially on shallow aquifers fed by streams that run low in summer, and anyone buying rural property on a well.
What to do next: Register the well if it is not registered. A well dug or drilled before February 29, 2016 is registered with the Province’s Well Registration Form; a newer well is registered through its construction report, filed by the driller (or by you, for a shallow dug well), and if you cannot find yours in GWELLS, write to Groundwater@gov.bc.ca. Watch the Province’s drought map for your basin in summer; its orders are posted with it. Keep a record of your well’s water level and yield so you can show any changes.
Checked against: Province of BC, Water Use During Scarcity, updated May 6, 2026; Requirements for Groundwater Users, updated May 22, 2026; Well Records and Registration, updated May 19, 2026; Domestic Well Registration Form · checked October 10, 2026
Updates: October 16, 2026 · Corrected: the Province’s sentence on the 250 litres is now quoted word for word: domestic users “will not be prohibited from continuing to divert and use up to 250 litres per day per dwelling for essential household use.” An earlier version put a paraphrase inside the quotation marks.
October 17, 2026 · Corrected: What to do next now says the Province’s Well Registration Form is for a well dug or drilled before February 29, 2016, and how a newer well is registered. An earlier version pointed every unregistered well to the form.
Related on the Wire: BC Groundwater Forecast: Two Langley Monitoring Wells Below Normal Into January; Merritt Watering Restrictions: Why a BC City With Abundant Groundwater Limits Lawns
