With the threat of another hot, dry summer ahead, the flow of water out of Cowichan Lake into the river is currently being restricted to 15.4 cubic metres per second and may be reduced to 15 CMS.
Brian Houle, Environmental Manager at Catalyst Crofton Pulp and Paper, says the lake is presently 98 per cent full and they want to maintain the level as close to 100 per cent full as possible to ensure there is enough water in the lake for the Cowichan River through July and August. and into mid-September.
He says the snowpack in the mountains around Cowichan Lake is about half of normal and that will not be enough to get through the summer.
Last year, a drought began in early June, there was a massive fish die-off in July, and Catalyst needed to install pumps on the weir to maintain a flow of 4.5 CMS in September.
Both the federal and provincial governments have now provided funding commitments to build a new and higher weir for Cowichan Lake, and Houle notes that if it had been ready last year there would have been no need to resort to pumps to maintain the flow of the river.
