Columbia Basin Water Monitoring Framework

Columbia Basin Water Monitoring Framework
The Columbia Basin Water Monitoring Framework is an NGO-led, collaborative project that has developed a comprehensive approach for water monitoring to support climate adaptation and watershed stewardship in the Canadian Columbia Basin.

PROGRAM GOAL

The Columbia Basin Water Monitoring Framework (CBWMF) is a coordinated monitoring network that supports the tracking of the effects of climate change and other impacts on water supply for communities and ecosystems. The data collected is made available to inform strategies for adaptive watershed management and freshwater stewardship in the Columbia Basin.

This program's data is publicly available on the Columbia Basin Water Hub. 


WATERSHED BULLETINS

Living Lakes is sharing the findings and stories of data collected through this program in a series of Watershed Bulletins. Explore the available issues below.

Bringing Watershed Data to Life with New Visualization Tool
Volume 1, Issue 3: November 2024

Explore the Columbia Basin Water Hub’s new graphing tool using data from three water monitoring stations within the Columbia Basin Water Monitoring Framework—Bonanza Creek, Dunbar Creek, and Bruce Creek—and learn about the important role of regional water hubs. View the report.

 

Wildfire Suppression in Rural BC fuelled by proactive Water Mapping
Volume 1, Issue 2: September 2024

Discover how local knowledge was compiled, digitized and transformed into interactive maps to help wildfire crews quickly orient themselves and gain situational awareness at critical times, and how it was applied during the recent Argenta Creek wildfire. View the report.

Spring Groundwater Levels Highlight Variability and Need for Expanded Monitoring
Volume 1, Issue 1: June 2024

Learn more about the longer-term groundwater level trends and why collecting aquifer-specific information supports sustainable groundwater management in our first Watershed Bulletin. View the report.


CURRENT NETWORK STATUS


OVERVIEW

Climate change is a critical issue impacting water management in the Columbia River Basin. Climate impacts have already had devastating consequences on this region, including home losses, damaged infrastructure, drought, intensifying water restrictions, and low water levels in streams, lakes, wetlands and aquifers. 

Existing water monitoring networks are insufficient to track and understand climate impacts on water. The Columbia Basin Water Monitoring Framework is a unified monitoring framework that will help inform local water budgeting needs and climate adaptation options for communities. 

Using an innovative methodology developed by senior hydrologists and climate change and ecosystem experts, Living Lakes Canada piloted this project in 2022 within three areas in the Canadian Columbia Basin. We expanded the project into two new areas in 2023, for a total of five operational areas covering 25,000 square kilometres. The long term goal is to scale and expand this model across the entire Basin region and share the learnings as a template for other regions as well.

In a special issue of the peer-reviewed Water International journal focused on water governance, CBWMF was selected as a featured case study. The article details the CBWMF’s pioneering approach, which emphasizes stakeholders engagement and prioritizes monitoring based on scientific and community criteria, as a localized solution for water management challenges. Read this open-access publication here.

 


BACKGROUND

The critical issues of water resource management amid climate change impacts in the Upper Columbia Basin have been identified in a series of reports from the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC) dating back to 2006. These reports highlighted the requirement  to increase monitoring and research to more appropriately understand climate impacts, while developing a collective, large-scale effort to prepare communities and industry for change.

Living Lakes Canada began implementing report recommendations in 2017 by holding a conference that brought together 120 water data experts to discuss what a water monitoring framework and an accompanying open source water data hub would look like for the Canadian Columbia Basin. Living Lakes Canada then led the collaborative multi-year development process, involving volunteer and paid steering committee members, various agencies, industry, academia, First Nations and community organizations, and in 2021, launched the Columbia Basin Water Hub, which serves as a central platform to access water data in the region.

The groundwork for a monitoring framework was established when Living Lakes Canada convened a meeting of senior hydrologists from government, consulting agencies, and academia, who reached consensus that a water balance approach was needed to fill the water data gaps in the Columbia Basin. Guided by the meeting outcomes, Living Lakes Canada contracted local experts to develop the Priority Monitoring Matrix methodology in 2021, outlined in the Terms of Reference document:


PRIORITY MONITORING METHODOLOGY

In accordance with the methodology, Local Reference Groups with broad cross-sector representation are established in each Hydrologic Region (this two-page Local Reference Group Backgrounder provides a detailed overview). Through a multi-faceted public engagement approach (online workshops, online interactive maps and surveys, one-on-one consultations and in-person meetings), Local Reference Group participants identify key community concerns and priorities. Geospatial data gap analysis is also completed to identify priority areas for monitoring from a scientific perspective. The Local Reference Group feedback and scientific results are combined to build a Priority Monitoring Matrix to guide selection of watersheds to monitor. Given limited resources but substantive monitoring needs, the Priority Monitoring Matrix methodology ensures that site selection and monitoring address both community and scientific priorities in a nested, cost-effective manner.


2022 PILOT IMPLEMENTATION

In 2022, we piloted this innovative approach to water monitoring in three areas (see the Pilot Report here):

  • Mid-Columbia Kootenay - map (North Kootenay Lake/Slocan Valley in the West Kootenay)
  • Columbia-Kootenay Headwaters - map (Columbia Valley in the East Kootenay)
  • Elk River Valley - map (in the East Kootenay - in partnership with the Elk River Alliance)

A data gap analysis was completed in the pilot regions in Spring 2022, followed by broad cross-sector engagement with Local Reference Groups to capture community priorities and concerns. Once the priority monitoring sites were selected based on this extensive public engagement and scientific analysis, equipment installation began in July 2022.

Preliminary data from the pilot project is now available on the Columbia Basin Water Hub. The data can be used by community members, researchers, the private sector and all levels of government to inform water management and stewardship decisions.

2023 Pilot Area Data Summaries:

2022 Data Gap Analysis


2023 EXPANSION

In 2023, we expanded this project into two new areas in the Canadian Columbia Basin: the Upper Kootenay and Lower Columbia-Kootenay Hydrologic Regions. Public engagement was conducted in early 2023 to capture community water concerns and priorities. This feedback was integrated with scientific criteria to inform hydroclimatic site selection. 

Monitoring in the new areas was initiated in Fall 2023 and early 2024.

2023 Community Engagement for Project Expansion:

2023 Data Gap Analysis:


SCALING UP FOR THE FUTURE

The full implementation of the Framework will see the program delivered in all 10 hydrologic regions of the Upper Canadian Columbia Basin over 10 years.

In June 2020, a University of British Columbia study was published, Detecting the Effects of Sustained Glacier Wastage on Streamflow in Variably Glacierized Catchments, suggesting the glacier-melt contributions to August runoff have already passed peak water in the Canadian Columbia Basin. The analysis indicates that there is a clear declining trend, which can have implications for streamflow forecasting and summer water temperature response during hot, dry weather (see the BC Drought Map) for current conditions.

The increased frequency of extreme events and the projected decreases in low flows both suggest urgency for a more comprehensive monitoring network of this kind to be implemented in order to understand the hydrological and water quality changes, and to mitigate and adapt to the growing risks of changes in flow regimes.

By developing the Columbia Basin Water Monitoring Framework as a template that can be used in the regions across Canada, Living Lakes Canada aims to support communities across Canada in adapting to the impacts of climate change on water supply, ensuring long-term food security, ecosystem health, community safety and economic vitality. The data generated will inform decision making around water quality and quantity on a national scale.


CONTACT

If you are interested in learning more and collaborating on this project, please email us at CBWMF@livinglakescanada.ca.

 

Columbia Basin Water Monitoring Framework

News and Updates


Kootenay water mapping project saves time for B.C. firefightersCBC News, Sept 8 2024

Daybreak South with Chris Walker – Sept 6, 2024: A new mapping tool developed in the Kootenays is changing how firefighters find water in remote communitiesCBC Listen, Sept 6 2024

Living Lakes talks “Finding Freshwater” in new podcast episode – The Headwaters, August 7 2024

Living Lakes Canada named finalist in 2024 Land Awards for Freshwater ScienceLiving Lakes Canada, May 9 2024

Canadian water innovation featured in renowned international journalLiving Lakes Canada, May 3 2024

An Exploration of Apex Creek: Capturing Hydrometric Monitoring in the Canadian Columbia BasinLiving Lakes Canada, Mar 19 2024

For a complete list of news features, visit our In The News page!

Resources


Funders & Contributors


Province of British Columbia Watersheds BC
Real Estate Foundation of BC Digital Technology Supercluster
Columbia Basin Trust Make Way
RBC Royal Bank Regional District of Central Kootenay
Vancouver Foundation Sitka Foundation
Slocan Valley Legacy Fund Columbia Valley Community Foundation
ECO Canada Regional District of East Kootenay
Osprey Community Foundation Slocan Lake Stewardship Society
Hoskin Scientific Valhalla Mountain Touring
Central Kootenay Food Policy Council Okanagan Basin Water Board
Healthy Watersheds Initiative iA Financial Group
Guelph Community Foundation Kimberley and District Community Foundation
Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions Regional District of Kootenay Boundary
Community Fund of North Kootenay Lake Society Government of Canada
Aquatic Informatics

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