— Officials from B.C. & Washington state to look at variety of factors —
(OSOYOOS TIMES — September 19, 2007) —
Representatives from the Similkameen Valley in B.C. and Okanogan County in Washington State are gathering information in a preliminary step looking at the feasibility of dams and reservoirs on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border.
A Similkameen Watershed Interim Steering Committee (ISC) has been formed, with the mandate to collate existing information on the hydrology of the Similkameen River and its tributaries.
Michael McLaughlin, Economic Development Officer for the Similkameen Valley, is manager of the Similkameen Watershed Study Project and is a member of the Interim Steering Committee.
In a news release last week, McLaughlin says the ISC will look at both the quantity and quality of water in the Similkameen River system.
He says a 2002 B.C. government study found the river's annual flow pattern is changing. It found the Spring freshet is arriving earlier, is not as high as in the past and ends sooner.
McLaughlin says past proposals to build a dam on the Canadian Similkameen were opposed by Valley residents, but changes in the river have prompted re-opening the question.
Measurements tell us that the annual snowpack is shrinking. That means nature is storing less water. The snowpack is also melting more quickly. The result is the river is very low in the late summer and fall. It is also warmer. Concern for the ecology of the river is causing us to look again at the possibility of a storage facility, he says.
He adds that a reservoir would store the water released when the snowpack melts each spring. That water would be released slowly during the summer and fall, maintaining historic river levels and adding cooler water.
Other benefits from a reservoir would include hydro generation, flood control and water storage for irrigation and consumption.
McLaughlin says the study committee is international because Washington State portions of the Similkameen and Okanogan Rivers are just as affected by changes in the Similkameen's hydrology. The U.S. is examining the potential for water storage on the Similkameen and Columbia Rivers and McLaughlin says it makes sense to evaluate such projects across an entire watershed.
He also says a project on the upper Similkameen River in Canada could be complementary to a project on the U.S. portion of the river. A reservoir upstream stores water that, when released, could be stored a second time. Both reservoirs could be made smaller, because each would hold only a portion of the Spring volume of water.
ISC Canadian Co-Chair George Hanson says the committee's mandate is limited.
Our task is to gather the information needed to assess if a full feasibility study of one or more sites is warranted. If the committee makes that recommendation, then a full public process begins and the federal and provincial governments become involved, Hanson says.
The Watershed Study will be funded by U.S. and Canadian sources. Work should begin before the end of 2007 and be finished in early 2008.
