Hi Everyone,
You thought you had heard the last of me, but speaking of emergency, here is some information regarding our current water crisis:
The current crisis is due to much less rainfall and higher than normal temperatures in the last 3 months. We only received 30 mm of rain in the last 3 months, last year we received 170mm, the historical average is around 160mm.
SCRD staff have now installed a siphon for Edwards Lake, which will provide our community with another 16 days of water once we run out in Chapman around October 15th.
The long-term forecast is still not showing any significant rain on the horizon, so staff are examining further options, including drawing from other water sources on the Coast, trucking it in from Vancouver, and they have put in an application with the Province to reduce the volume of the water we’re sending to the ocean for the fish, also known as our environmental flow needs (EFN) (currently we are using about 10-11,000 cubic meters of water as a community, our EFN volume is 17,000 cubic meters a day).
As a preventive measure there is also a coast-wide fire ban due to the prolonged drought, and the impact a fire would have on our water reserves could be devastating.
SCRD bylaw staff are also continuing to pursue active leaks, they have resolved shut-off notifications to 7 high users, have issued more shut-off notices and are knocking on doors of other high users to get them to comply. People found in contravention of the Stage 4 bylaws will be immediately fined $500.
Staff are also preparing for further, more drastic measures that may be required and include the declaration of a local state of emergency.
If you are interested in a more thorough briefing, you will be able to find it on youtube, at the beginning of the October 13th board meeting.
Please continue to reduce your water consumption as much as possible. Every drop counts.
In case you have any questions or concerns, you can always email me.
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