Months of dry weather have taken their toll on Island watersheds, leaving the Campbell River watershed facing historic lows.
Steve Watson with BC Hydro says last year’s dry fall and sparse rainfall this year have left the river system with the lowest August water inflows in 60 years of keeping records.
“The good news is we were quite conservative in our water conservation efforts in the spring and early summer, so we’ve been able to have pretty good recreation in the upper reservoirs,” he says. “Thankfully given how dry it’s been, I think it’s been pretty good.”
He says BC Hydro decreased the flow rate in on the Campbell River in June and has been able to maintain it throughout the summer at around 30 cubic metres per second, while balancing the needs of salmon, recreation, and power generation.
BC Hydro will look at increasing water levels in October, after recreation season is over and when more species of salmon start returning to the river system.
