Water Sharing Data Licence and Agreement (FAQ)

Last updated on March 4, 2019

Frequently Asked Questions

Related to Data Sharing

 

1. Who is the provincial government contact for further questions about the Data Sharing Agreement?

Email your questions to AQUARIUS@gov.bc.ca

 

2. What if I want to stop sharing my data in the future?

You can discontinue data sharing at any time.  Data that has been shared during the term agreement will remain in the system.

 

3. What is the timestep that you use?

At present, hourly data is the highest resolution being processed.  If you have higher frequency data we will convert to hourly.

 

4. We need data more often than once a day. Can it be picked up more often during a freshet?

Yes, depending on the data transmission, the data is refreshed every 1-2 hours.

 

5. What format do you want the data in?

Real time data can be in .TXT or in a CSV file format. If data is graded, just have a numeric value showing the grade. It is important to identify what the columns mean in your datafile.

 

6. Are there standards around the title of the location name and ID?

The ID will be assigned provincially as per the Water Survey of Canada sub-basins. The location name should reference the gazetted stream name, with a description of the geographical location.

 

7. We’re collecting shorter-term watershed health information for each watershed in our municipality. Is hydrometric data for just one year useful?

Yes, it is useful.

 

8. Are you interested in water quality data?

Yes

 

9. There is a lot of data available. How are you prioritizing which data you will be acquiring and adding into the system?

Greater value will be placed on real time stations that are used for flood or drought monitoring and/or stations in streams that have environmental flow needs.

 

Related to the Real Time Water Data Tool

 

Is it possible to do a stream profile on the Real-time Water Data Tool?

No, a stream profile cannot be created in the Real-time Water Data Tool however the data is made available in machine readable format in the Data Catalogue for use in other analysis tools.