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# How Do I Check If Water Is Available Before Applying for a BC Groundwater Licence?
- URL: https://bcgroundwaterwire.ca/bc-groundwater-licence-check-water-availability/
- Published: 2026-10-20T05:26:08.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-20T18:19:46.000Z
- Description: No tool gives a yes in advance. You can check what the Province’s technical review reads: the allocation notations on the source, the licences and applications already on it and, in five regions, a watershed report.
- Author: Colleen Roberts
- Tags: Licensing, #question, #who-farm, #who-business, #who-trades

No tool gives a yes in advance. You can check what the Province’s technical review reads: the allocation notations on the source, the licences and applications already on it and, in five regions, a watershed report. In British Columbia, applications “undergo a technical review to make sure there is enough water at the source to issue a licence without affecting the existing water rights of others, or harming the water supply and aquatic ecosystem,” the Province [says](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/air-land-water/water/water-licensing-rights/water-licences-approvals/apply-for-a-water-licence?ref=bcgroundwaterwire.ca). The review is one step, not the decision: the decision maker also considers any objections from people whose water rights or land are likely to be affected (they get notice of the application unless the decision maker is satisfied that no one will be affected), and weighs many factors, some of them required by the Water Sustainability Act.

Notations first. A [water allocation notation](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/air-land-water/water/water-licensing-rights/water-allocation-notations?ref=bcgroundwaterwire.ca) is “a water management tool used to indicate the potential lack of water availability on a source,” on a stream or an aquifer. The Province lists stream notations quarterly and maps them on iMapBC; for aquifers, it advises contacting FrontCounter BC.  
  
No notation is not a yes: iMapBC “may not have a complete picture of water availability issues.” On a notated source the Province’s advice is to understand availability before drilling, for example, with a professional assessment, which “reduces the risk of drilling a well that cannot be authorized,” and to call FrontCounter BC and a Regional Hydrogeologist first.

Then the licences already there. The [Water Licence Search Tool](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/air-land-water/water/water-licensing-rights/water-licences-approvals/water-rights-databases?ref=bcgroundwaterwire.ca) searches licences by client name, source or licence number; the applications pending on the source count too, since a new licence’s priority date is the date of application. The aquifer’s [GWELLS](https://apps.nrs.gov.bc.ca/gwells/?ref=bcgroundwaterwire.ca) page rates how heavily it is drilled as a calculated well density: the number of wells known to be completed in it per square kilometre.

Then there is the watershed report, where one exists. The Province’s [BC Water Availability Tool](https://nr-bcwat.bcwatertool.ca/?ref=bcgroundwaterwire.ca) generates one for a stream, lake or river, “describing water supply, demand, environmental flow needs, and other watershed characteristics,” in the Skeena, Omineca, Cariboo and Kootenay-Boundary regions; the BC Energy Regulator’s Northeast Water Tool covers northeast BC. Neither has one for the Fraser Valley, the Okanagan or Vancouver Island.  
  
For an application on a stream, or on an aquifer the decision maker considers reasonably likely to be connected to one, the decision maker must consider the stream’s environmental flow needs, unless the regulations exempt the application, and may direct the applicant to provide an assessment by a qualified person.

**The Note:** The Province is not asking whether water is there. It is asking whether water is there for you after everyone ahead of you and the stream.

**Who should pay attention:** Farms and businesses in BC planning a new groundwater licence application, and the drillers and consultants siting the well.

**What to do next:** Check the notations on your stream and aquifer, search the licences and applications on the source, open the aquifer in GWELLS and, in a covered region, run the watershed report. Then call FrontCounter BC (1-877-855-3222) with all four in hand before the rig is booked. A domestic water well needs none of this.

**Checked against:** Province of BC, [Apply for a Water Licence](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/air-land-water/water/water-licensing-rights/water-licences-approvals/apply-for-a-water-licence?ref=bcgroundwaterwire.ca), updated November 12, 2025; [Water Allocation Notations](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/air-land-water/water/water-licensing-rights/water-allocation-notations?ref=bcgroundwaterwire.ca), updated June 17, 2026; [Water Rights Databases](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/air-land-water/water/water-licensing-rights/water-licences-approvals/water-rights-databases?ref=bcgroundwaterwire.ca), updated June 15, 2021; [Environmental Flow Needs](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/air-land-water/water/water-licensing-rights/water-policies/environmental-flow-needs?ref=bcgroundwaterwire.ca), updated June 6, 2024; [Requirements for Groundwater Users](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/air-land-water/water/water-licensing-rights/water-licences-approvals/new-requirements-for-groundwater-users?ref=bcgroundwaterwire.ca), updated May 22, 2026 (a new applicant’s priority date); [Water Rights Applications – Public](https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/water-rights-applications-public?ref=bcgroundwaterwire.ca), BC Data Catalogue; Water Sustainability Act, sections 13 to 15; [GWELLS aquifer pages](https://apps.nrs.gov.bc.ca/gwells/aquifers?ref=bcgroundwaterwire.ca) (the label “Calculated well density”); the [BC Water Availability Tool](https://nr-bcwat.bcwatertool.ca/?ref=bcgroundwaterwire.ca) and [BC Water Tool](https://www.bcwatertool.ca/?ref=bcgroundwaterwire.ca); BC Energy Regulator, [Northeast Water Tool and Water Portal updates](https://www.bc-er.ca/news/northeast-water-tool-newt-and-water-portal-updates-tu-2026-15/?ref=bcgroundwaterwire.ca), July 17, 2026 · checked October 15, 2026

**Updates:** **October 20, 2026** · Corrected: the first paragraph now gives the Province’s full sentence on the technical review (“without affecting the existing water rights of others, or harming the water supply and aquatic ecosystem”) and says the decision maker also considers objections from those whose water rights or land are likely to be affected, who get notice unless the decision maker is satisfied no one will be, and weighs many factors, some required by the Water Sustainability Act; an earlier version quoted the sentence only as far as “to issue a licence” and said the decision rests on that review. GWELLS’s rating now carries its own label, “calculated well density”; an earlier version read “calculated water well density”.

**Related on the Wire:** [Do I Actually Need a Groundwater Licence in BC?](https://bcgroundwaterwire.ca/do-i-actually-need-a-groundwater-licence/); [Nearby Water Well Records in BC Are Clues, Not Guarantees](https://bcgroundwaterwire.ca/nearby-water-wells-are-clues-not-guarantees/); [Merritt Watering Restrictions: Why a BC City With Abundant Groundwater Limits Lawns](https://bcgroundwaterwire.ca/bc-merritt-groundwater-watering-restrictions/)