East Pt. Water Report

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The Intrusion of Seawater into the Fractured Bedrock Aquifer 
on East Point Peninsula, Saturna Island 
 
 
 
www.Saturnaislandguide.com 
 
Prepared by: 
 
Pat Lapcevic (MSc, P. Geo) and Jillian Kelly (BSc)  
 
BC Ministry of Environment, Water Stewardship Division 
Vancouver Island Regional Operations Branch 
 
 
 
 
 January 2010  
 
 
 
  

 
 
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The Intrusion of Seawater into the Fractured Bedrock Aquifer  
on East Point Peninsula, Saturna Island 
 
Background 
 
Saturna Island (here after referred to as the Island or Saturna), the most south-easterly of 
the Gulf Islands, is located in the southern end of the Strait of Georgia. The Island is 
approximately 35 km
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 and supports 359 full-time residents (Islands Trust, 2008). Like many of 
the Gulf Islands, the population of Saturna increases in the summer months with part-time 
seasonal residents and visitors. This increase in population leads to an increase in water use at a 
time when there is little precipitation and accompanying recharge of the groundwater aquifers.  
 
Groundwater occurring in fractured sedimentary rock deposits provides a primary source 
of potable water on the Island. The Island has a Mediterranean-like climate, characterized by hot, 
dry summers combined with mild winters. The ‘wet’ season occurs between November and April 
each year, during which time three quarters of the annual precipitation falls (mostly as rain) on 
the island. Some of this precipitation percolates through the land surface to recharge the 
groundwater aquifers. During the ‘dry’ season between May and October, there is very little to 
no recharge of the aquifers from precipitation (Allen and Suchy, 2001a). 
 
One of the more densely developed areas is the 2.5 km long East Point Peninsula (also 
referred to as “peninsula”) at the eastern end of the Island. The peninsula is bound by the 
seawater of the Georgia Strait on the north, east and south sides. Groundwater is the primary 
source of potable water on East Point Peninsula. In some areas, this resource is supplemented 
with rainwater catchment or delivery of water from another source on the island to fill cisterns or 
tanks. Precipitation falling in the central, elevated area of the peninsula during the wet season 
recharges the groundwater resource (Allen and Suchy, 2001a).  
 
 We estimate that about 50-75 wells are currently in use on the peninsula. The BC Water 
Resources Atlas currently shows sixty-three wells recorded on East Point Peninsula (starting just 
west of Fiddler Road) (MoE, 2009). This atlas generates a map of well locations using the 
WELLS database which contains data from well construction records that have been voluntarily 

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submitted to the Ministry of Environment. Although 63 wells are shown on the map, there are at 
least 12 wells on East Point Peninsula that are currently in use which are not recorded in the 
WELLs database. Conversely, some of the wells currently in the databa

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