The BC Energy Regulator upgraded its Northeast Water Tool, effective July 31, 2026, adding five data modules (streamflow, surface water quality, groundwater quality, groundwater level and climate), and retired the Water Portal, moving the Portal’s functions into the tool.
The tool keeps its Watershed Reporting and its Groundwater Review Assistant and Cumulative Diversion Analysis, which the regulator says are not in the Province’s tool. Its bulletin of July 17, 2026 set the dates, July 31 for the upgrade and August for the Portal’s retirement, and said the change would make it easier for “applicants and other users” to reach its decision-support tools; the tool now carries the five modules. On October 19, 2026 the Portal’s old address forwarded to the tool when typed with http, as did the Water Portal link still in the regulator’s site menu; typed with https, it did not forward (its security certificate is self-signed). The regulator’s Water Management page still said on October 20 that the Portal “will be retired shortly”. The tool covers northeast British Columbia only.
For the rest of the province, the BC Water Availability Tool at nr-bcwat.bcwatertool.ca, called the BC Water Tool on the Province’s pages, “provided for public use by the Province of British Columbia” in its own words, with Foundry Spatial credited on its pages, already holds the former Omineca, Skeena, Cariboo and Kootenay-Boundary water tools in one map; it was running by October 2025; neither the tool nor the Province’s Water Data and Tools page gives a launch date.
In those four regions it generates a watershed report for a stream, lake or river, “describing water supply, demand, environmental flow needs, and other watershed characteristics.” Its five data modules reach the whole province: streamflow gauges, surface water quality, groundwater quality stations (most from the Province’s Environmental Monitoring Data System, the source the tool names), the groundwater observation well network with live hydrographs, and climate stations.
Who it affects: Anyone preparing a water licence or use approval application in the Skeena, Omineca, Cariboo, Kootenay-Boundary or Peace regions, where the tools report on the watershed of a stream, lake or river; consultants and drillers anywhere in BC, who get live hydrographs from the observation well network.
What hasn’t changed: Neither tool decides anything. A water licence is decided by the statutory decision maker (the Province or, for oil, gas and other energy resource activities, the BC Energy Regulator) after its review, any notice to those whose water rights or land are likely to be affected, and any objections. Both tools are decision support, the Province’s offered “AS IS” and without warranty, with live readings that may not have been through quality assurance, as each chart says. The Water Licence Search Tool remains where licences and their sources are searched. Neither tool has a watershed report for the Fraser Valley, the Okanagan or Vancouver Island. A household well needs no BC groundwater licence.
Source: BC Energy Regulator, Northeast Water Tool (NEWT) and Water Portal updates, TU 2026-15 (July 17, 2026); BC Water Tool; the BC Water Availability Tool; Province of BC, Water Data and Tools (updated April 23, 2026); Province of BC, Apply for a Water Licence (updated November 12, 2025); Water Sustainability Act, sections 13 and 14; BC Energy Regulator, About, Water Management and Water Portal (its site menu’s link, which opens the Northeast Water Tool); Internet Archive, snapshot of nr-bcwat.bcwatertool.ca, October 17, 2025 · checked October 15, 2026
Updates: October 20, 2026 · Corrected: the entry now says that on October 19, 2026 the Water Portal’s old address forwarded to the Northeast Water Tool when typed with http, as did the Water Portal link in the regulator’s site menu, but typed with https did not forward, and that the regulator’s Water Management page still said on October 20 that the Portal “will be retired shortly”; an earlier version said the old address opens the tool. The groundwater quality stations are now said to come mostly from the Environmental Monitoring Data System, the source the tool names; an earlier version said the Environmental Monitoring System. Foundry Spatial now appears as the tool credits it; an earlier version said the tool was built by Foundry Spatial. What hasn’t changed now says a water licence is decided by the statutory decision maker, the Province or, for energy resource activities, the BC Energy Regulator, after its review, any notice to those likely to be affected and any objections; an earlier version said the decision rests on the Province’s technical review. Five sources added.
Related on the Wire: How Do I Check If Water Is Available Before Applying for a BC Groundwater Licence?
Where it stands
- By October 17, 2025: the consolidated BC Water Availability Tool is live at nr-bcwat.bcwatertool.ca (Internet Archive snapshot); neither the tool nor the Province’s page gives its launch date.
- July 17, 2026: the BC Energy Regulator announces the Northeast Water Tool upgrade and the Water Portal’s retirement.
- July 31, 2026 (key): the effective date the regulator set for the upgraded Northeast Water Tool, with five new data modules, which the tool now carries.
- August 2026: the month the regulator set for the Water Portal’s retirement.
- October 19, 2026: the Portal’s old address forwards to the Northeast Water Tool when typed with http, as does the regulator’s Water Portal link; typed with https, it does not forward.
