Water on Hornby Island

This page aggregates mirrored provincial aquifer and GWELLS records for Hornby Island parcel region. Of 1,191 regional land parcels, enough are linked to 3 aquifers to meet the coverage threshold. These aquifers carry 725 well records, 30 of them with provincial water-chemistry data, and 3 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 438 — Mt. Geoffrey, Hornby Island

Bedrock — Fractured sedimentary rock; 18.8 km²; mapped 2020. Linked to 732 regional land parcels.

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

499 wells on record; 7 water licences; 10 artesian; 16 wells with provincial water-chemistry data; 1 provincial observation well (#288 Active).

Provincial factsheet for Aquifer 438

Aquifer 435 — Whaling Station Bay, Hornby Island

Bedrock — Fractured sedimentary rock; 3.8 km²; mapped 2020. Linked to 278 regional land parcels.

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

137 wells on record; 2 artesian; 10 wells with provincial water-chemistry data; 1 provincial observation well (#323 Inactive).

Provincial factsheet for Aquifer 435

Aquifer 436 — Shingle Spit-Phipps Point, Hornby Island

Bedrock — Fractured sedimentary rock; 5.2 km²; mapped 2020. Linked to 135 regional land parcels.

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

89 wells on record; 1 water licence; 2 artesian; 4 wells with provincial water-chemistry data; 1 provincial observation well (#324 Inactive).

Provincial factsheet for Aquifer 436

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.