The Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) has teamed up with the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCHA) to enhance the protection of drinking water in the Chapman Creek watershed.
The organization will be following a legislated process under the drinking water protection act. The process, to date, includes the development of a Chapman Creek watershed drinking water source assessment that identifies both hazards and risk levels to drinking water quality and quantity.
The Chapman Creek drinking water source assessment response plan (SARP) is the next step in the process and work is underway. SARP's purpose is to develop a set of prioritized management recommendations to identify those hazards and risk levels.
To enable the development of SARP, a technical work group has been established. The group comprises a wide array of stakeholders including the SCRD, VCHA, the Sunshine Coast Community Forest, Sunshine Coast Conservation Association, Tetrahedron Outdoor Club, First Nations representation and other local governments.
"Basically, the way we drew the limits of the membership was any organization that has a physical presence in the watershed above our water intake at Chapman, such as land tenure or ownership of land, or any organization that has the ability to effect change," said SCRD general manager of infrastructure services Bryan Shoji.
He said watersheds can face a multitude of hazards that could potentially affect the quality and safety of the drinking water including resource extraction such as forestry and gravel pit mining. High precipitation resulting in high run off also poses a risk, as does general human access.
"A good way to look at it is if you have a well in your front yard, what would you want happening around that well," Shoji said.
As for SARP, if the mitigation and management measures identified do not address all the hazards and risks to drinking water quality, the province's drinking water officer can request the development of a drinking water protection plan for the watershed, he added.
"The SCRD has wanted to ensure the protection of the Chapman watershed for a long period of time," said board chair Garry Nohr. "This technical group will be a step toward the goal of securing protection of the water source under the drinking water protection act."
