In BC, hydrometric data that is collected by non-Water Survey of Canada (WSC) parties is expected to follow the 2009 Resources Information Standards Committee (RISC) BC Hydrometric Standards (2009 RISC Standards). There standards were developed to complement the WSC standards and to account for different levels of rigour and quality. However, the BC Ministry of Environment and other have identified that the 2009 RISC Standards do not include current industry-accepted equipment and software, and are missing considerations of some common field conditions.
The Ministry retained Associated to complete an independent review of the 2009 RISC Standards and to provide an evaluation report that recommends updates to the existing standards that includes new technologies, measurement techniques, updates to the data grading system, and the consideration of AQUARIUS software and the streamlining of data grading, uploading, and data dissemination.