Editor:
The last shoe has dropped. Stage 4 watering restrictions for all of us on the Chapman Creek water system. Every year, now, the dreaded announcement is expected.
An article in the Coast Reporter in May 2022 revealed there were 18 subdivisions under review on the Coast. Sixteen of them are within the Chapman Creek water system area. I am not sure if this includes the shíshálh Nation subdivision in Selma Park that would make the number 17. I was not able to reach the Sunshine Coast Regional District planning department to confirm if any of the 16 have been approved, denied or are still pending.
What I cannot understand is, how would any of these applications be approved given the dire circumstance of our water supply? It is frightening to think of hundreds more homes becoming reliant on a source of water not guaranteed to deliver. Or perhaps, guaranteed not to deliver, at this point in time. A moratorium on future subdivision approval in the Chapman Creek water system must be put in place, now, and remain until our water supply can be assured.
We are presently experiencing an extreme forest fire alert here on the Coast. We are told to keep damp the perimeters of our homes. Not within the Chapman Creek water system where a fine will result if you do so.
Gale Tyler
Halfmoon Bay
