Water levels in Cowichan Lake continue to drop to dangerous depths and will no longer flow naturally over the weir by the end of the month unless the area receives a significant amount of rainfall before then.
Catalyst Paper Corporation, which owns and operates the weir in Lake Cowichan, estimates that according to current levels, water flow over the weir and into the Cowichan River will cease by approximately Sept. 26. When the lake’s level reaches below 161 meters, the weir is at “zero storage.” The current lake level is hovering just above this limit.
“Last year it went this low and last year was a much better year than this one. It was the worst year ever; this year was momentously worse by a whole month,” said Brian Houle, environment manager at Catalyst. “Last year we had Aug. 31 rainfall, so we recovered very quickly in September. And this year we’ve had this little rainfall we’ve had recently, so the lake is stalled on its decline, but we… don’t usually expect substantial rainfall until mid-October.”
Although this past summer was cooler than the summer of 2015, the Cowichan Lake region had a drier spring than last year, setting the stage for much less water in the lake by the end of the dry season.
Catalyst is ready to install pumps near the boat lock that would enable it to pump water over the weir and into the river, maintaining the river’s current flow of 4.5 cubic metres per second (which is already lower than Catalyst’s licensed minimum flow; the company received a special permit earlier this year to allow them to reduce the flow to this level).
The pumps will run on electric generators rather than the originally planned diesel generators.
Houle said the company has looked into whether or not pumping water will impact the Town of Lake Cowichan’s water intake from the lake, and the company does not anticipate pumping from the lake will affect the town’s water supply.
“We have looked at this. And at the lake levels that we’re dropping down to, we didn’t anticipate that there would be an impact on their incoming water,” he said. “They will not run out of water. We will make sure whatever is needed will be in place to sustain their water.”
Catalyst has a permit to pump water from the lake for a maximum of 49 days. Houle said even if they were to pump for the entire period allotted to them, the lake levels would still be sufficient for the town’s water intake, however, water would flow into the pipe “half-full.”
The pump is scheduled to arrive Sept. 19.
