Can I dig a new well on my farmland without a licence?

A new well for domestic household use on your own land can generally be drilled without a full water licence, but a well for irrigation, livestock, or any commercial farm use almost always requires licensing under the BC Water Sustainability Act. The well itself also has to meet provincial construction standards, and in some areas, new wells are further restricted by groundwater management area rules.

What catches buyers is assuming they can just add a well to expand irrigation later, because a new licence in a fully allocated or water-stressed basin may not be available at the volume the crop needs, or at all. The available allocation depends on the watershed, the existing licences, and the priority system, not on what you want to draw.

If your farm plan depends on a new well, confirm whether a licence is available and at what volume before you buy, because a parcel that cannot get a new irrigation licence may be worth far less than its asking price. Read our Water Rights guide for the framework, and check the watershed allocation with the provincial water authority.