Local councils need to take water problem seriously
I write this letter in response to an article in the Victoria Times Colonist dated Sept. 1 and titled “Rescuing A River”. The Catalyst Pulp Mill in Crofton owns and operates the weir and has begun pumping water over the weir from Cowichan Lake into the Cowichan River. In the article the Cowichan Valley Regional District chair claims that the river has been saved by this heroic effort.
The pulp mill draws huge amounts of water from the river a few miles downstream from the weir. I have attached a photo of the river taken on Sept. 2, several days after the pumping began. The photo was taken from the silver bridge on the TCH looking upstream. Where is the water that is being pumped from the lake? I could easily walk across the river and not get my knees wet! Where is the water? It’s obvious it is being pumped to the Crofton Mill. The intake being upstream from where this photo was taken.
In addition, I continue to read articles in your paper and others that we must conserve water due to several years of drought. We are placed on water restrictions in early spring which lasts at least until Sept./Oct. each year. It is obvious then that we have a water shortage and my question to local politicians is, why are you continuing to approve huge residential developments that will need water that we don’t have? More tax money to spend? This trend cannot continue!
I also wonder why steps are not being taken to capture what little precipitation we get during the rainy months?
It’s time that local councils take this situation seriously, begin taking action, instead of paying lip service to a serious problem.
Ed Raaflaub
Duncan