VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA, March 3, 2015 -- With its project partners, Geoscience BC, a non-profit organization with the purpose of attracting mineral and oil & gas investment to British Columbia (BC), Canada, has announced its new Peace Project. The Peace Project represents a collaborative effort that will generate new information about groundwater in Northeast BC's Peace Region.
Peace Project partners include the BC Oil and Gas Commission, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers through the Science and Community Environmental Knowledge fund, ConocoPhillips Canada, Progress Energy Canada Ltd., the Province of British Columbia, and the Northern Development Initiative Trust (NDIT).
The Peace Project will produce sound technical knowledge of the region's shallow aquifers to facilitate effective groundwater protection. To achieve this, Phase I includes a new airborne geophysical survey that will launch this year and cover 8,000 square kilometers within the Peace Region of Northeast BC, stretching northwest from Hudson's Hope and Fort St. John to past Pink Mountain. The survey will collect data to a depth of 300 meters below the earth's surface, which can then be used to produce maps of shallow aquifer distribution, quantity and quality.
Information from the Peace Project will also serve as a key component of the Northeast Water Strategy by providing the knowledge to enable the strategy's Enhanced Water Monitoring System. The Northeast Water Strategy is currently under development by the Provincial government in partnership with Treaty 8 First Nations, local governments, regulatory bodies, and the resource sector.
The Peace River Regional District (PRRD) supported a funding application that Geoscience BC submitted to NDIT for the Peace Project last fall. "The members of the PRRD saw the benefit of working with Geoscience BC to better understand the source and characteristics of water in our region," said Lori Ackerman, Mayor of Fort St. John and Chair of the Peace River Regional District. "Our region is home to many competitors for water; therefore, the value of water is clearly understood. We are very pleased to support this initiative."
"The collective effort in support of the Peace Project is a testament to the importance and growing recognition of groundwater protection to everyone," said Robin Archdekin, Geoscience BC's president and chief executive officer. "This work will provide the necessary framework for effective groundwater stewardship by all stakeholders and enable informed and responsible resource development."
See also:
"Ontario WWTP receives first ISI Envision sustainable infrastructure award in Canada"
"Major partnership to maintain, enhance Canada's wetland habitat"
About Geoscience BC
Geoscience Bliss a non-profit organization (NGO) that receives funding from the provincial government. Its mandate is to attract mineral and oil & gas investment to British Columbia through generating, interpreting and publicly distributing geoscience data in partnership with First Nations, communities, governments and industry. Geoscience BC is able to be flexible, responsive and entrepreneurial and operate with relatively low overheads. It also has an ability to engage with communities and other NGOs in design and delivery of geoscience programs and to provide information and knowledge to the public about geoscience and the exploration sector. For more information, visit www.geosciencebc.com.
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