Industries Pay Much Less for Water in BC, Report Finds

By Ben Parfitt – The Tyee

As oil and gas companies drill and frack more wells in British Columbia than ever, they are using record quantities of water while frequently not paying the province for that resource, a new report warns.

The soaring water use comes from industries of all shapes and sizes, with companies as diverse as aluminum smelters and water bottlers paying the B.C. government almost nothing for the publicly owned water they use, warns the BC Watershed Security Coalition. The province is being shortchanged tens of millions of dollars annually, the coalition says.