Editor:
Re: “Province rejects Chapman expansion,” Feb. 15.
The SCRD’s $5-million plan to trench Chapman Lake to draw down the lake 25 feet would still not have provided sufficient long-term water for residents and fish in summers as population growth and climate change continue. It would also have negatively impacted local biodiversity values protected within the provincial parks system. Now that George Heyman, the provincial Minister of Environment, has taken the elimination of Tetrahedron Park off the table, let’s all work together to help the SCRD truly resolve the water supply issue. Let’s use that $5 million more wisely.
There is no silver bullet here, but a combination of effective measures should work. Consider: quickly initiating much more extensive aquifer analysis and development; enacting real conservation actions like bylaws requiring water catchment on all new construction projects; truly enforcing water sprinkling laws and expanding subsidies for backyard water collection; moving forward more rapidly on building a man-made reservoir; providing an in-depth economic and environmental analysis by independent experts on the most realistic access to large lakes outside parks; and completing the water meter system (without which the senior governments are unlikely to support further infrastructure development on the Sunshine Coast).
Time to move forward together.
George Smith, Gibsons
