The Sunshine Coast's Chapman water system remains at Stage 4 restrictions as of Dec. 2.
Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) staff travelled to Chapman Lake on Dec. 1 and noted that the lake level has risen because of warmer weather in the past couple of weeks but the upper watershed is completely frozen and the lake has not risen so much that the restrictions can drop, said an update posted to the SCRD's Facebook on Friday.
"After stabilizing earlier this week, water supply from the lake and in Chapman Creek is fluctuating at a further reduced level which staff believe is due to a combination of thawing / freezing at lower elevations," said the update. "Staff monitor the creek levels continuously to ensure the best information is at hand before decisions are made around bringing other water sources online or dropping water conservation regulations."
More updates are to come next week.
Earlier this week, an emergency operations centre update said that Chapman Creek flows into the water system had stabilized at 700 litres per second but in the final week of November, sub-zero weather led to a creek flow drop to 400 litres a second in a 24-hour period.
SCRD emergency operations centre director Remko Rosenboom stated in the release “the fact that creek flows have stabilized is promising news for both our current and long-term water supply situation."
Supply update
As of Nov. 30, Chapman system water was being sourced from Chapman Lake and Creek, augmented by flows from the Chaster well in Elphinstone. In his regularly issued video updates related to the area’s water supply, Rosenboom stated those supplies are “more than we need and that is good news.”
Additional water supplies are available from the Church Road Well Field and Town of Gibsons. Supplies from Gray Creek and Trout Lake are also ready to be brought online if needed, and those sources would be used to supply customers in adjacent areas only. The SCRD’s statement noted that if those sources are accessed, boil water advisories for customers supplied from those sources would be issued. It said advisories would be communicated with as much notice as possible through SCRD communication channels and its emergency notification system, Voyent Alert, which the public can sign up for at www.scrd.ca/alert-system.
Water use remains below target
The use of water from the system has remained below the SCRD’s target rate of 8.5 million liters per day as of the end of November. The SCRD expressed its continued appreciation to system users for “efforts being made to reduce water use” in the release.
