Provincial Hydrology Program

The Provincial Hydrology Program manages the collection, review, publication and standards and training of provincial surface water quantity data, primarily river levels and surface water flow.

About the program

The program is the responsibility of the Climate, Hydrology, and Snow Monitoring Section within the Environmental Monitoring and Analysis Branch in the Ministry of Environment and Parks. Program staff operate the Provincial Hydrometric Network, deliver the Provincial Hydrometric Training Program, oversee the Canada-British Columbia Hydrometric Agreement and, publish standards for hydrometric operations. We also provide guidance, capacity building, mentoring and equipment support for hydrometric data collection throughout the Province of British Columbia.

Provincial Hydrology Program

What is Hydrometry and hydrometric data?

Hydrometry is the practice of monitoring components of the water cycle including rainfall, groundwater, water quality and flow characteristics of surface waters. The collected data is called ‘hydrometric data’. The image below illustrates the movement of water near the Earth's surface and the connection between natural storage locations.  

The province divides the collection of hydrometric data between the groundwater network (PGOWN), climate network, snow network, water quality, and the surface water network (hydrometric network). The provincial hydrology program oversees surface water hydrometric data, the information that characterizes surface water, including stage (calibrated water level height) and discharge (volume of flow) as the core parameters. In some cases, additional parameters such as water temperature, turbidity, precipitation, conductivity, and others may be collected. 

Image credit: Howard Perlman, USGS. Public domain