On March 11, 2014, BC's legislature began deliberations over
the proposed new Water Sustainability Act, which, if
passed into law, will replace the current Water Act.
Currently in first reading, this Act has been long in the making,
with public consultations reaching back to 2009. The government has
advised that the new Act will become law in the spring of
2015.
In this bulletin, we highlight aspects of the proposed Act which
may be of interest to land owners, developers and local
authorities.
The proposed Water Sustainability Act currently contains
(among other things) the following provisions, which would be a
change to the current provincial regime if passed into law:
- Prohibits unauthorized diversion of
groundwater: The Act will prohibit unauthorized
diversion of stream water and groundwater. The proposed Act also
asserts the provincial government's ownership over both types
of water. In terms of groundwater, this change is significant: the
current Wate
