Data Sources
The Collaborative believes that freely available and accessible data allows for the most efficient and powerful use of information.
Below are links to open-source data aggregators and providers. The Monitoring Collaborative is currently working to consolidate Elk Valley data into a single resource.
Columbia Basin Water Hub
The Water Hub contains numerical and spatial data, reports, photos and other types of information about streams, lakes, wetlands, groundwater, snow, glaciers and climate in the Columbia Basin, both historical and current. The data is accessible for decision makers, researchers, students, professionals and the public.
Environmental Monitoring System
The Environmental Monitoring System (EMS) is the ministry’s primary data repository for environmental monitoring data. The system was designed to capture data covering physical, chemical, and biological analyses performed on water, air, soil, and waste discharges, as well as data from ambient monitoring throughout the province.
Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network
The Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network (CABIN) is an aquatic biomonitoring program for assessing the health of fresh water ecosystems in Canada. Benthic macroinvertebrates are collected at a site location and their counts are used as an indicator of the health of that water body.
BC Data Catalogue
The BC Data Catalogue is the place to find B.C. Government data, applications and web services. Government ministries and many broader public sector agencies publish their data resources in the Catalogue. This data can be used to make informed decisions and create opportunities for the benefit of all British Columbians.
Kootenay Boundary Water Tool
The BC Water Tool is a modular application which provides access to water related data and knowledge in support of sustainable resource management. On this site you’ll find custom watershed reports for every stream, river and watershed in the Kootenay Boundary Region. You’ll also find monitoring data from more than 50 organizations, at more than 50,000 locations across southern BC.
Weather Canada
The Historical Data page is an excellent way to locate any historical climate data that you are searching for. Each search method within this page generates data based on different criteria, but will generate the same resulting information for a station for all three methods. Choosing the most efficient method greatly depends on what information you have to input into the search function.