Water on North Pender Island

This page aggregates mirrored provincial aquifer and GWELLS records for North Pender Island parcel region. Of 2,335 regional land parcels, enough are linked to 3 aquifers to meet the coverage threshold. These aquifers carry 501 well records, 83 of them with provincial water-chemistry data, and 4 provincial observation wells recording long-term water levels.

Counts use stored parcel-region membership. They are not an island-only geographic wells census. Aquifer totals cover each selected aquifer in full, including any area outside the parcel region; selection requires at least 25 parcels or 5% of regional land parcels.

The aquifers

Aquifer 720 — North Pender; southern portioin

Bedrock — Fractured sedimentary rock; 9.5 km²; mapped 2004. Linked to 1,471 regional land parcels.

Vulnerability Moderate; productivity Low; demand Moderate; quality concern Isolated.

116 wells on record; 1 water licence; 2 artesian; 49 wells with provincial water-chemistry data; 1 provincial observation well (#284 Active).

Provincial factsheet for Aquifer 720

Aquifer 711 — North Pender; northern area

Bedrock — Fractured sedimentary rock; 11.3 km²; mapped 2004. Linked to 454 regional land parcels.

Vulnerability High; productivity Low; demand Moderate; quality concern Local.

262 wells on record; 1 water licence; 5 artesian; 25 wells with provincial water-chemistry data; 3 provincial observation wells (#215 Inactive, #214 Inactive, #283 Active).

Provincial factsheet for Aquifer 711

Aquifer 712 — North Pender; Port Browning

Bedrock — Fractured sedimentary rock; 6.3 km²; mapped 2004. Linked to 199 regional land parcels.

Vulnerability High; productivity Low; demand Moderate; quality concern Local.

123 wells on record; 1 water licence; 2 artesian; 9 wells with provincial water-chemistry data.

Provincial factsheet for Aquifer 712

What the ratings mean

The Province classifies each mapped aquifer's intrinsic vulnerability — how easily contamination at the surface could reach the water — as Low, Moderate or High, based on factors like depth to water and what covers the aquifer. A High rating means relatively little natural protection between the surface and the water people draw from. It describes susceptibility, not current contamination. Productivity describes how readily the aquifer yields water; demand describes the level of use. These are the Province's classifications, not ours.

Fractured bedrock in plain terms

Most Gulf and Northern Gulf island aquifers are fractured rock: water sits in cracks in sedimentary or crystalline bedrock rather than in a porous bed of sand and gravel. Fractured-rock aquifers store comparatively little water and move it unevenly, which is why neighbouring wells on the same island can report very different yields, and why the Province rates most of these aquifers Low productivity.

Sources

Aquifer boundaries are a toggleable layer on the island map. This page presents provincial data with explanatory context; it makes no claims about individual wells or properties.