Surface water quality stewardship

Last updated on October 5, 2022

Water quality stewardship protects our shared resources through partnerships and responsible monitoring.

Stewardship programs are a vital part of this partnership:

  • A water quality steward takes responsibility to collect and share surface water quality information from local watersheds
  • Local stewardship builds community engagement to improve watershed health

Start a surface water quality stewardship program

To learn more about water stewardship in streams and rivers, review the available resources in the surface water quality toolbox.

For more information on lake monitoring, visit the B.C. Lake Stewardship and Monitoring Program page.

The toolbox has:

  • Management documents for stewardship
  • Guidance to help ensure quality and accuracy of data
  • Information to demonstrate how data affects and impacts decision-making


Gather Water Samples

Set up for success before you gather surface water samples.


Share Results

Analyze and share your results.
Data must be in electronic format.


Improve Practices

Learn how to improve and expand your stewardship practices.

Water monitoring groups

The Provincial Monitoring, Assessment and Stewardship team works with many water quality stewards, including:

  • Community groups
  • Indigenous communities
  • Industry groups
  • Local authorities
  • Watershed organizations

This role provides critical data to support environmental decisions.

Did you know?

Water quality data is used to assess water quality changes over time, which can lead to early detection of impacts from watershed activities.