Community water suppliers play a critical role in delivering safe, reliable drinking water services to residents and businesses across B.C. As infrastructure ages, costs increase, and capacity pressures grow, many suppliers are finding it increasingly difficult to sustain this essential service.
Being aware of these realities, the Province is seeking to better understand the financial and capacity challenges that community water suppliers face. The Province invites community water suppliers serving up to 3000 connections to take part in this one-time survey to understand community water supplier needs. By sharing your experience, you will help build the evidence needed to identify province-wide priorities, determine where additional supports, tools, or resources may be needed in the future.
About this survey
This survey focuses on topics such as:
- Financial and affordability challenges
- Treatment and distribution system characterization
- Operational and technical capacity
- Planning and long-term outlook
The information collected through this survey will be used to inform policy development and government decision-making related to community water systems. The survey is intended to identify common challenges, priorities, and support needs across the province. It is not intended to evaluate individual water systems, assess compliance, or commit government to specific funding or policy initiatives.
You may have participated in the voluntary Water Supply Status Survey this year or in previous years, providing information on the status of your water supply from June to October. If so, thank you. This is a different survey with a different focus, and also voluntary. We encourage you to look over the PDF Preview of Survey (Click Here) and consider taking part.
Complete the Survey
Understanding Water System Needs Survey (Click Here)
- Survey response times will vary.
- We are attaching a PDF with the questions so you can look in advance and gather the necessary information as some questions may require information that is not readily available.
- Answers will be saved if you leave the survey and come back later unless you clear your browser cache.
- If multiple contacts within your organization have received the survey, please identify one person to fill out the survey to ensure consistency.
- The survey will work on most web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge) except for Internet Explorer.
- The survey can be filled out on mobile devices such as phones and tablets.
- The survey will be open until Friday November 6th, 2026.
Not sure if this survey is for you?
This survey is for community water suppliers with up to 3000 connections. Community water suppliers provide drinking water to two or more residential connections and are regulated under the Drinking Water Protection Act. There are many different types of community water suppliers, including municipalities and regional districts, utilities, water user’s communities, and improvement districts, stratas, mobile home parks, shared systems between neighbors and other independent systems.
Why fill out the survey?
Your participation is important. Whether you have a system servicing a village, small city or only a few neighbours, we want to hear from you. Your experience is essential to ensuring that decision-makers understand the realities facing water suppliers.
The first 4 questions need to be filled out to submit the survey, while the other questions are optional. Our team would welcome survey responses even if not every question is answered. Additionally, if your organization operates multiple water systems, please fill out the survey for up to three of your systems. The more information you share, the better the Province will understand challenges for water systems in B.C.
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience and helping the Province better understand the challenges you face.
If you have questions or need help filling out the survey, please contact our team at watersupplystatus@gov.bc.ca.