There appears to be no simple solutions to dealing with the increasingly frequent flooding on the Chemainus River.
After a presentation on North Cowichan’s draft climate-adaption strategy at the municipality’s council meeting on June 19, Coun. Tek Manhas asked about the status on work to mitigate the flooding issues on the Chemainus River, which was hard-hit by overflowing banks a number of times in recent years after heavy rains, including the atmospheric river event of 2021.
He said debris was regularly removed from the river in the past, but it hasn’t been done in recent years, other than some targeted work last summer.
“I’ve talked to some of the long-time farmers in that area and they keep emphasizing that an annual debris-removal program should take place at the river, and that would have a huge impact on the flooding on their properties,” Manhas said.
CAO Ted Swabey said the health of Chemainus River is a priority for North Cowichan, and it’s considered such a big issue that the municipality has been working with the province, Halalt First Nation and local farmers to find solutions to its flooding problems.
But he said there’s no strategy for the overall health of the river, and how the upper reaches of the watershed are managed is key to dealing with the issues. It has long been alleged that logging and other industries further up the Chemainus River are contributing to the build up of sediments and logs in the waterway’s lower reaches.
“Just to go in and remove the debris is like playing whack-a-mole, which may have some benefits, but until you actually deal with the root cause of why we’re getting the debris, it just comes back,” Swabey said.
“So we think there’s an opportunity to potentially have the (Cowichan) Agricultural Society have further discussions with council and possibly review all the reports that have been done by the province and come up with a strategy for the river, and then take some concrete actions on how we steward the river in the long run.”
After much discussion among stakeholders and several studies, the province funded a project last summer that saw approximately 8,500 cubic metres of sediment removed from a gravel bar between the Chemainus Road bridge and the E&N Railway bridge.
This August, the province is also planning a project that will restore the right bank of the Chemainus River immediately downstream of the Highway 1 bridge, and the work will also include the construction of seven bend-way weirs, the installation of large woody debris for fish habitat and riparian planting along the river banks.
But much more work has to be done and David Conway, North Cowichan’s director of subdivision and environmental services, said all the work needed requires approval from the province under the Water Sustainability Act, as well as the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans due to the risk of harmful alterations of the habitat along the river.
“So it’s not something that can be done on a whim, and as much as it may be that (dredging) had been done on a larger scale, perhaps about 50 years ago, this is not the strategy that is used today,” he said.
“We’ve had many conversations with Halalt First Nation about this, and their position for decades has been to have a watershed management plan and to have that funded through multiple layers of government and that’s something that’s being discussed.”
Conway suggested North Cowichan should take the issue up at the next Union of B.C. Municipalities meeting in September and try to get the province to support the initiative.
“Meanwhile, staff and the mayor [Rob Douglas] have met with local residents to talk about the difficulties of the river and try to find where the gaps are and, perhaps, use our agricultural advisory committee as a sounding board,” he said. “We could also possibly even obtain some of the funding for work there from our agricultural fund while we pursue our other, larger, efforts.”