Water Licence Renewal

To use water to generate electricity, we need a water licence under the Water Sustainability Act. If our facilities use Crown Land, we also need a permit over Crown Land (PCL).

We have three licences with expiry dates in 2018 and four licences and one permit over Crown Land with expiry dates in 2019:

• Shuswap Falls – Two licences, one for water storage and one for water diversion, have expiry dates of December 31, 2018 (See note below).
• Alouette – One licence for water diversion has an expiry date of December 31, 2018.
• LaJoie and Bridge – Four licences, two for water storage and two for water diversion, and one permit over Crown Land have expiry dates of April 1, 2019.

We have applied to renew these licences and our rights under the licences are protected until the Comptroller of Water Rights makes a decision regarding the renewal applications.

We have also applied to renew three additional diversion licences at LaJoie and Bridge with expiry dates in 2051 with the intent that all LaJoie and Bridge licences with renewal dates have the same licence term moving forward.

We're not asking for changes to the existing licence conditions or facility footprints as part of the licence renewals. We will continue to operate the facilities in accordance with our Water Licence conditions and Orders.

Note: In January 2020 we asked that the renewal application be placed on hold while the Wilsey Dam Fish Passage Project proceeded. Additional information is available on the Wilsey Dam Fish Passage Project page.

Information Sheets

• Water Licence Renewals Overview [PDF, 47 KB]
  
• Water Licence Renewals [PDF, 433 KB]

Questions and Answers

• Water Licence Application Process in B.C. [PDF, 63 KB]
  
• Water Licence Renewal Project [PDF, 59 KB]

Additional information

• B.C. Government Water Licences and Approvals

Other programs

We have ongoing programs operating in the systems where we'll be renewing water licences and associated permits including:

• Reservoir Archaeology Program [PDF, 2.8 MB]
  
• Fish Mitigation [PDF, 3.1 MB]
• Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program [PDF, 5.5 MB]
  

For more information

If you have questions or comments, please contact us at projects@bchydro.com or 1 866 647 3334.