Watering Restrictions

For Marc Rutton:

I read an article re: more lake water for the Comox Valley. It was interesting to learn that less than 1% is currently allocated to the Valley, while BC Hydro is allocated 82%. I am not upset by those numbers, but it did bring to mind a few questions.

1) How long has the valley’s allocation been in place? Building and usage have exploded in the past 15yrs and we are always under level 1 restrictions on water use, (unless it goes to level2 or 3 during the dry season). Is it time we increased the allocation to match the increasing needs in the valley?

2) I understand that BC Hydro requires a massive draw to provide electricity to our ever expanding population and business growth. You stated that after use, BC Hydro releases this water further downstream. How great an increase in demand is forecast for the next 15 yrs?

3) Why are we pumping fresh water into the ocearn?

4a) Does running it through the hydroelectric facility in some way render it unusable?
4b) If so, then why not recirculate it back through the turbines instead of dumping it into the ocean? Imagine reusing the water to keep the turbines at full capacity, like they do in water fountains and garden features. It would be self-feeding and require less fresh water, thereby saving the fresh water for other uses. Even if they only recycled 50% of the water, it would reduce the demand significantly.
4c) Is it possible to create a separate feeder station to supply farms and businesses with this water; or create a filtration system that would make it potable?

5) If the water coming from the hydroelectric plant is not rendered unusable, is it possible to recirculate this used water back into the lake to be used again? Turbines and aquaducts are used extensively throughout the Napa Valley in California. Even 50% of 82% would be a huge savings considering that less than 1% = 9 million cubic feet of water/annum.

6) Why not install such a system and pump the used water back into the lake? While this might prove a costly endeavour at the outset, it would certainly alleviate the drain on our fresh water supply and guarantee the fresh water supply for future increased draws as our Valley continues to expand.

We in Canada, especially in BC, take our fresh water supply for granted and waste massive volumes of water by pumping it into the ocean.
7) Perhaps it is time to consider the future now and start recycling our water to ensure there is never a lack of it?

As additional thoughts,

While I do appreciate that such a project would require an increase demand for power, the force and power of water coming out of the dams is incredible!Perhaps the power of the used water could be harnessed to drive it back to the lake or back into the turbines, so this demand would not exceed the benefits of conservation of water. If they built collecting cauldrons at the base of the slews, the water could then be channeled into aquaducts and pushed by its own force back up to the lake or the intake pipes for the dam.

This might well be a prototype project that could be used wherever on earth water is used to generate electricity. I think it is a concept worth investigating.
Barring the feasibility of these suggestions, can you raise the height of the dam?
Respectfully
Cheryl A Netzke