Water Policy Issues and Knowledge Gaps

Policy Issue Knowledge Gaps
Safeguarding groundwater and surface water quantity and quality
  • Standardized methodology for assessing borrow pits that did not obtain Water Act approval prior to construction that would identify any potential impacts on the surrounding landscape or downstream water bodies.
    • This data would then inform the regulator’s consideration regarding whether the water body could be used as a water source by industry, or whether further work is required to bring the pit into compliance and/or if reclamation is required.
  • Treatment of sour water
Enabling the use of alternative water sources to high-quality non-saline water
  • Water allocation procedures to make allocations intra-year more flexible to deal with scarcity / regulations to the actual volume or the allocated amount
    • Market based or regulated?
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