New weir for drought-threatened Vancouver Island river still more than 2 years away

A new weir meant to preserve water levels on the drought-threatened Cowichan River is still more than two years away, provincial officials said Friday.

The timeline update came as Premier David Eby, Cowichan Tribes and local leaders gathered at Lake Cowichan to provide more details on a $14 million provincial funding commitment first announced in the 2024 budget.

2:03 Major project launched to restore and protect Cowichan Bay estuary

Environment Minister Nathan Cullen said the province is still working through legal and governance issues related to the project. Once those are dealt with, the actual construction phase will take an estimated two years, he said.

Raising the weir has been a local priority for years, but the project has taken on an increased urgency amid increasingly hot and dry summers, Eby said Friday.

“Last year we saw a catastrophe on the river, where it was essentially kept alive only through giant pumps feeding water into the river and a massive fish kill that I know was heartbreaking,” he said.

The provincial funding adds to $4 million already provided through the provincial federal B.C. Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund and $24 million through the federal Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund.

The 74-year-old Cowichan Lake weir is a dam-like structure that allows the region to hold water back in preparation for dyer conditions. It currently has a 97-centimetre capacity, and the project will see that level raised by another 70 centimetres.

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With increasingly thin mountain snowpack and now-annual drought conditions on Vancouver Island, officials say the old weir no longer has the capacity to ensure the Cowichan River flows at adequate levels during the driest summer months.

“Salmon have been trucked upstream as there is not enough water for them to swim,” Cowichan Tribes Cheif Cindy Daniels said. “Last year, 10s of thousands of trout and salmon died because there was not enough water to keep them alive.”

The announcement comes with B.C. preparing for the potential of another summer of drought.

An unusually warm and dry winter has left snowpack on B.C. mountains about 34 per cent below seasonal average province-wide.