Outgoing Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) chair Garry Nohr says there’s not enough information getting out about the progress the SCRD is making on the water front.
Nohr, the director for Halfmoon Bay, made the comments during the Nov. 2 Coast TV program Talk to Your Local Government.
Nohr said he’s confident the SCRD is on the right track, and moving as quickly as it can.
“Do we need to change the plan? I don’t think so,” he said.
Councillors from Sechelt asked for a joint meeting with the SCRD on water issues last month, and some criticized the current water strategy and the pace at which measures like a search for new sources and planning for a reservoir were going forward. That meeting has been set for Nov. 21 and will include representatives from Gibsons and the shíshálh Nation as well.
According to Nohr, with water metering on schedule to roll out in Sechelt and shíshálh Nation territory in 2018, the next priorities are the Chapman Lake expansion project and the search for the new water sources. Nohr said both initiatives should go forward in the spring and summer of next year.
He said BC Parks is ready to start public consultations on a boundary amendment or redesignation of Tetrahedron Provincial Park to accommodate changes to the SCRD’s parks use permit.
“There’ll only be two choices, with the idea that the ministry will support us with doing the tunnel and the draw down.”
In a letter to the SCRD earlier this year, the ministry acknowledged that the Tetrahedron management plan “recognizes the role of the park in maintaining and enhancing the supply of water for the local community… Consistent with the management plan, BC Parks will be reviewing options that will enable BC Parks to authorize the SCRD to maintain the community water supply.”
A Ministry of Environment spokesperson told Coast Reporter this week that BC Parks has no comment on the public consultations at this time, because it’s still considering the options.
Nohr said the siphon system deployed at Chapman Lake between Oct. 3 and Oct. 19 during Stage 4 water restrictions worked well. If the Chapman Lake expansion project is completed, the extra water could only be used in similar circumstances.
“In getting agreement with the shíshálh Nation, they wanted it used for emergency purposes only and not for development. That puts us in a bit of a bind… We’ve got to find other sources, which we’re finding through wells, in order to cover for development,” Nohr said.
SCRD directors are expected to authorize spending $325,000 in the 2018 budget to drill test wells at four sites, including one off Mahan Road near the Gibsons-Elphinstone boundary.
Gibsons council, however, wants the Mahan Road site rejected because any well there would tap into the Gibsons aquifer. At its Nov. 7 meeting, council passed a motion to “convey to the SCRD that it is not in support of any investigative drilling into the Gibsons aquifer until a joint Groundwater Management Plan has been adopted, a joint Groundwater Management Zone has been established, and additional long-term monitoring is completed to establish that such drilling and groundwater use will not be detrimental to the Town’s long range water strategy.”
Mayor Wayne Rowe said he understands the SCRD’s need to look at all options for water supply, but cannot support any move that could impact the town’s aquifer.
“In my mind this is actually a much greater threat to the Gibsons aquifer than anything that we’ve been dealing with up to this point,” he said.
Nohr also said the SCRD is hoping to begin talking with Lehigh about building a reservoir at the gravel mine site in Sechelt. He said discussions in past years had stalled because the shíshálh Nation was uncertain about supporting the idea – the mine is on shíshálh territory – but the current chief and council are willing to look at it. Other sites are also on the list for consideration.
SCRD chief administrative officer Janette Loveys told Coast Reporter this week that regional district staff are also drafting a 2018 budget proposal to start work on exploring storage options.
Nohr said speeding up the pace of creating infrastructure, such as new reservoirs and treatment plants, might require a tax increase on the order of five per cent. But he thinks the new provincial government may be more willing to help than the previous government.
Nohr, who is not running for re-election and didn’t plan to stand for chair when a new one was chosen Nov. 9, expressed some frustration at delays he blamed on a “nucleus of maybe 20 to 30 people” who’ve been trying to block the Chapman Lake expansion project.
“The reason I got in [to local government] was water, and I want go out knowing it’s well in hand,” he said.
