Town of Gibsons makes Recommendations on the SCRD’s Regional Water Strategy

July 16, 2024 – On Thursday, July 11, 2024, staff from the Town of Gibsons presented a report to the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) Committee-of-the-Whole, providing feedback and recommendations on the SCRD’s draft Regional Water Strategy. In the spirit of regional cooperation, the submission aims to share experiences as a partnering water purveyor on the Sunshine Coast and provide constructive feedback to enhance the strategy in line with the Aquifer 560 Watershed Agreement.

For over a decade, the Town has focused on understanding Aquifer 560 and the watershed area. Through rigorous monitoring and reporting, the Town has been able to gain extensive knowledge of the natural water system, make significant improvements to reduce water use and manage the water source responsibly. The recommendations that the Town is proposing are grounded in this evidence and successful experience.

“I asked staff to present this report so that we could continue this important conversation,” says Mayor Silas White. “Our goal is not to change the existing agreement but to work on it collaboratively. Our proposal involves adopting a watershed system and assets system outlook, avoiding further dependency on the Chapman system, and focusing on sustainability. We are committed to sharing consultant reports and collaborating to find the best solutions that will benefit the region.” 

The primary concern the Town has with the SCRD’s proposed Regional Water Strategy is the continued reliance on a vast network to deliver water to multiple watersheds, communities, and territories across the region. This system incurs high energy costs due to the need for extensive pumping and has a greater potential for unaccounted water loss. Additionally, it struggles to provide reliable water supply to all users during dryer periods, a situation that is worsening with climate change.

The second concern is that the plan does not consider the future growth of the region. To address the current water issues, the SCRD is proposing to rely on the new sources of water identified in Aquifers 560 (Elphinstone/Gibsons) and 552 (Langdale) without first meeting the local needs of the residents and businesses of Gibsons, Elphinstone, Roberts Creek and portions of West Howe Sound. The lack of a regional sustainable growth plan puts the future water needs of these areas at risk. As both organizations are beginning to update their Official Community Plans, now is the time to align development with our water needs that will sustainably support the Sunshine Coast for generations to come.

Thirdly, while the Town strongly supports the efforts to complete the installation of water meters in the Sechelt area, the Regional Water Strategy is limited in its sense of urgency and in providing a clear vision and action plan, including a more aggressive approach to addressing the unaccounted-for loss of water due to leaks.

The recommendations proposed by the Town are:

• Establish a new Groundwater-based SCRD water service area, supplied by Aquifer 560 and, eventually, 552 to supply Area D (Roberts Creek), Area E (Elphinstone) and portions of Area F (West Howe Sound).
• Implement the recommendations and commitments of the 2023 Aquifer 560 Watershed Agreement, including optimizing the distribution systems between Gibsons and SCRD; expanding the Environmental Monitoring Program and updating the regulatory framework for aquifer protection to match the rigorous requirements applied in the Town.

The benefits of this approach:

• Combined, the new SCRD service area and the Town’s system could potentially serve 9,800 people or 34% of the Coast’s population.
• It would allow the residents and businesses in areas D, E and F to have access to a reliable source of water from their local watershed, similar to what the residents of Gibsons access.
• As many, if not all, properties are metered in the rural areas of the RD, isolating the new zone would greatly improve the SCRD’s ability to identify and repair leaks in the new zone.
• Additionally, it allows for accurately implementing a fair pricing mechanism to better recover the costs of providing the water service.
• It would reduce the number of users accessing Chapman System by as many as 20% or 5,000 people approximately.
• It would provide water to support the Chapman system, as needed, assuming environmental and licensing limits are observed.
• Serve as an emergency backup to the Chapman System

You can watch the presentation on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbqQB-wQxXY

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For more information, please contact:

Emanuel Machado
Chief Resilience Officer
Email: emachado@gibsons.ca
Phone: 604-886-2274