Provincial regulators now have to consider environmental flow needs when issuing licenses or permits for surface water and groundwater under the new Water Sustainability Act. Ecofish, along with our collaborators Knight Piésold and ESSA, have been asked by MFLNRO to define the key information needs and provide guidance on how to consider this information when reviewing new water licence applications. This work builds on more than a decade of Ecofish support to the Provincial and Federal governments in developing environmental flow assessment methods, which culminated in the provincial Environmental Flow Needs Policy in 2015.
The Province has also asked Ecofish to review effects of run-of-river hydroelectric projects on invertebrates in BC streams to improve the effectiveness of this monitoring approach.