Editor:
I didn’t know whether to laugh or scream when I saw the letter entitled “Overreaction on watershed” (Coast Reporter, March 18). Trivializing crucial issues seems to be common these days and such comments as, “Am I alone in being heartily sick of the religious fervour attached to anything to do with Chapman Creek?” are irresponsible and ill informed.
It seems simplistic to have to emphasize that trees reduce soil erosion and water pollution. Trees help to recharge ground water and sustain stream flow. Logging in watersheds can alter stream flow, create sedimentation and higher discharge volumes during rain events. One would think if the writer has “P. Eng.” after his name, he would know this.
Read the history of Metro Vancouver’s watershed and see why no logging has occurred there since 1995.
When we first moved here in the early 2000s our tap water had horrible brown sediment in it and we had to get our drinking water from the Gibsons aquifer (which, by the way, Mr. M, is fed by the Aquifer Recharge Zone located above the town on the slopes of Mt. Elphinstone where there are trees). The Chapman Creek water treatment plant was upgraded in 2004 to the tune of $7 million to solve the dirty tap water issue.
Do we want to keep throwing public money at a problem that keeps perpetuating itself by running the risk of sedimentation in tap water?
I don’t know about you, but I am “heartily sick” of hearing that logging companies are still harvesting in our watershed. We can live without logging, but we can’t live without clean drinking water.
Bette Chadwick, Sechelt
