Groundwater levels in the province have declined from near record high levels in January, to near record lows at most provincial monitoring sites in early April.
Minister of Environment, Energy and Forestry Jamie Ballem provided an update on groundwater levels in the Legislative Assembly today. The department maintains 13 observation wells throughout the province where groundwater table elevations are monitored on a continuous basis.
Recent monitoring results show that some wells are actually below record lows, however these wells have a shorter period of record – in these cases, there is anywhere from three to 15 years of monitoring data; other wells that are near record lows have close to 40 years of data.
Minister Ballem said the aquifer has received less than normal recharge so far this spring, in large part due to the lack of precipitation and snow melt. Since a large component of stream flow originates from groundwater, low groundwater levels also result in low stream flow.
“Similar low groundwater conditions were experienced this time last year. However, snowmelt in late April and heavy rainfall in May recharged the groundwater and resulted in normal summer stream flow,” the Minister said.
“Obviously we will not have the snowmelt this year, but we don’t know what spring rainfall will be. It is, therefore, impossible to reliably predict summer groundwater and stream flow levels at this time.”
The department will continue to monitor groundwater conditions and provide updates as information becomes available. Graphs showing water table elevations at provincial monitoring sites can be found online at www.gov.pe.ca/go/waterlevels.