Voicing the need to “concentrate on the best option” for Chapman Water System supply enhancements, Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) Elphinstone area director Donna McMahon along with her board counterparts endorsed abandoning the Gray Creek intake and treatment design project on May 8.
The action reverses a 2025 budget commitment to spend $864,550 in the region’s Growing Communities Fund kitty on that work this year.
A staff report on the agenda for the committee meeting where debate took place earlier that day, noted a future report will be provided on how that funding, which originated with the province, could “be redirected to other water supply projects."
Stopping the project at the pre-design stage was recommended in the report. That document outlined the findings of a consultant’s report on the feasibility of relying on Gray Creek as a supply source for the Chapman Water System throughout the year as opposed to only during times of drought and high demands, by adjusting intake infrastructure. The study’s findings were the culmination of more than two years of monitoring and analysis.
Climate change impacting flow rates
According to the consultant report, the creek’s summer flows “frequently approach or fall below the SCRD’s licensed withdrawal rate of 32 litres per second (l/s). In multiple measured low-flow events between 2022 and 2024, flows were as low as 35 l/s, meaning that fully exercising the licence would extract nearly all available streamflow which could have significant ecological impacts."
The consultants carried out long-term predictive modelling for the creek. That data indicated that if climate conditions continue at current levels or if drought conditions in the creek’s watershed area increase, the SCRD would not be able to take its maximum licensed withdrawal from that source.
“Gray Creek’s streamflow is expected to drop significantly in August and September due to the very likely impacts of climate change. The probability of the natural flows falling below the licensed amount for about a week at a time in August increases to 31 per cent by 2050, and 54 per cent by 2075.”
The board's direction will mean staff are to “continue the existing use of Gray Creek water source during dry summers until such time as the water supply situation of the Chapman Water System is such that this is no longer required," according to the report.
Asked about the project change in an interview with Coast Reporter, board chair Alton Toth stated, "In the face of climate change and in the face of changing treatment standards, it is not a viable long-term project. In a way, we are sort of closing the door on Gray Creek as a water source, except in emergencies."
