Editor:
The approaching fire season is worrisome. The SCRD proposal for an extra five-metre draw-down pipe on Chapman Lake, the major source of domestic water, means the natural capacity of the micro-organisms on the bottom will be lost as the lake shrinks.
These organisms work to condition water quality and buffer watershed disturbances such as fire, flood and logging roads. Furthermore it is unclear if the current SCRD water treatment plant would be able to replace their function without a costly upgrade.
Chapman Lake is small. The surface area is 58 per cent as big as Garden Bay Lake and just a bit deeper. Everyone knows that the watershed, although large, can’t store enough water during 100-day droughts.
Just like your bank account, if you spend more than you make, it will run dry. Local residents use a metre or more of Chapman Lake every week during hot weather. Apparently, the prohibitory cost of a new reservoir at a lower elevation will be near two dollars per gallon.
As well, the Sechelt First Nation, which is legally assigned the stewardship of Chapman Creek under the International Pacific Salmon Treaty between Canada and the U.S., seems to have been left out of the decision by the regional district.
Managing peak demand of any utility requires planning by qualified technical staff such as hydrologists and limnologists using integrated planning. The SCRD has a sad record of leadership on water issues, seldom doing more than finding short-term answers such as water meters while orchestrating the usual desperate August rain dance with restrictive rationing.
It seems to me that the prospect of killing Chapman Lake and ruining the creek is a heavy price for which elected officials must be held accountable.
Joe Harrison, Garden Bay
