Thanks to everyone for coming today and thanks to those who made it possible. 

To summarize what we saw:

1)      The pile of sand and gravel in the middle reaches (Salmon River Uplands) soaks up the fall and winter rains.  This cold water (we measured it today at 9 degrees) seeps out of the steep ravine banks in springs that keep the river healthy during the dry summer months.  While the Fraser can warm to 19 degrees in the summer the Salmon stays at less than 12 degrees which allows the juvenile coho to mature from fry to 5 or 6 inch smolts before they migrate to the ocean the following spring. 

2)      We saw how much water from artesian sources there is in the area around the Tall Timbers golf course.  The west and north of the aquifer is constantly losing huge amounts of water from artesian wells.  This water drains away from where it is needed in the centre of the aquifer where the stream and the users are. 

3)      We saw how many agricultural users there are in the north of the watershed.  While TOL maps show a fairly narrow aquifer north of the freeway we know from talking with well drillers that the wells are tapping into the aquifer over a much wider area and that there are some very big users in the north (we drove past many berry farms, a turf farm etc.).

4)      In Williams Park we saw how low the flow gets in the Salmon River in the dry part of the year and how Coghlan Creek has a better flow (even though it drains a smaller part of the watershed) as it is fed by more springs near the park. 

5)      Matt Foy showed us how the middle reaches form the healthiest part of the stream and how this healthy area is starting to shrink as we lose small tributaries and as the flow in others decreases during the summer.  We saw one small tributary (Pond Creek) in the Saddlehorn Crescent area that is good spawning habitat in the fall but only had stagnant water in it at this time of year so is not ideal rearing habitat for the juvenile coho.

6)      Jim Clark described how MOE has been following the water table in this area with observation wells since the 1960’s.  When the water table started to drop in about 1975 they continued to watch but have done very little about it.  The Otter Co-op well, like many wells in the area, has a documented drop of 1 foot a year for 30 years. 

 

In conclusion Jim made the point that we are probably losing about 2500 to 3000 gallon per minute from the aquifer.  He feels that perhaps 1000 or more of that deficit could be stopped by capping artesian wells. 

We also discussed the need to decrease usage (85% of which is agricultural) notably by finding ways to encourage farms to use drip irrigation and to otherwise reduce less water. 

Increased infiltration of water by penetrating the areas where there is clay could also be useful. 

Although the subject can be complicated we can address it by putting three relatively simple ideas together:

1)      Capping artesian well

2)      Reducing usage especially agricultural usage.

3)      Infiltrating water into the ground to recharge the aquifer

 

Incentive programs for all three issues would be helpful while we lobby the province for more legislation.