BC Environmental Monitoring System Data

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.

Samples are collected by either ministry staff, permit holders under the Environmental Management Act, or authorized third parties and are analyzed in public or private sector laboratories. If the sampling is conducted as part of a permit requirement the sample must be analyzed at a qualified laboratory. The majority of monitoring data is entered into EMS electronically via Electronic Data Transfer (EDT).

The dataset shared on DataStream contains the EMS ambient surface water monitoring data. The original data can also be accessed from https://cat.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/bc-environmental-monitoring-system-results.