78 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

Ah yes, the bread basket of the wealthiest enclave in Canada.

[Victoria Watcher]

Food security in Oak Bay.

[Victoria Watcher]

Green dye in Bowker Creek used to test drain connections: Saanich

 

The green dye was noticed Friday afternoon by a resident, who also found more than a dozen paint cans nearby. 

 

https://www.timescol...o-water-6720309

[Nparker]

...The green dye was noticed Friday afternoon by a resident, who also found more than a dozen paint cans nearby. ...

I am sure it was purely a coincidence this was 'discovered' on March 17^th. 

[Victoria Watcher]

Saturday gathering celebrates Bowker Creek

 

Multi-year restoration of creek is underway, including efforts to “daylight” its underground sections.

https://www.timescol...r-creek-7394125

[Victoria Watcher]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Brush-Up event is a celebration of art in a treed creekside setting with artists showing their work and how they create. Also featuring a fundraising barbecue, musicians and community displays.

At Bowker Creek Walkway in Oak Bay, between Armstrong Avenue and Hampshire Road Join over 40 artists on the shady banks of Bowker Creek Park in Oak Bay, as they interact with the public while demonstrating their art. Enjoy paintings, drawings, ceramic artistry, jewelry, photography and more! This art event features well-known established artists, emerging artists, and talented youth artists. Kids and the young at heart can try their hand at making art in the art booth provided by Recreation Oak Bay. Join us on this free event for beautiful art, friendly artists and great food.

 

https://oakbayartist...k-brush-up.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JOIN US AT THE BRUSH-UP EVERY AUGUST

BRUSH-UP ARTISTS 2024 WITH SPOT NUMBER
(SEE MAP BELOW)

Wayne Anaka (1)

Carol Bednarski (40)

Jennifer Cameron (24)

Margaret Case (14)

Claire Christinel (51)

Jean Delaney (45)

Nancy Dolan (50B)

Sabine Dufleit (35)

Daniele Dupuis (42)

Joan Easton (5)

Carol Finn (12)

Shaela Fitzgerald-Kohn (8)

Virginia Foley (37)

Kristopher Friesen (11)

James Grimshaw (46)

Beverly Hancock (36)

Shelley Hordiyuk (39)

Caroline Hunter (53)

Donna Ion (16)

Karen Kaiser (18)

Hugh Kaiser (19)

Irene Khurana (20)

Cheri LeBrun (48)

Victor Lotto (9)

Lynda Luburic (38)

Sarah Massey (23)

Laurie McAmmond (21)

Joan McCorry (3)

Nancy Mclean (25)

Tony Mochizuki (7)

David Moss (22)

Cameron Neufeld (17)

Mayumi Nogami (4)

Michael Pipes (6)

Carolyn Purden (47)

Emma Pyle (2)

Linda Rajotte (55)

Avis Rasmussen (15)

Paul Redchurch (49)

Derek Rees (10)

Dallas Segno (50A)

Brian Simons (43)

Simon Stewart (26)

Pam Stonehouse (34)

Erik Thorn (44)

Jo Vipond (41)

Teresa Waclawik (33)

Claire Watson (52)

Flo-Elle Watson (54)

Gail White (13)

 

BBQ near the top bridge

Community Association of Oak Bay (28)

CRD Climate Education (30)

Friends of Bowker Creek (29)

Friends of Uplands Park (27)

Oak Bay Tourism (44B)

Every year the Oak Bay Community Artists Society invites its members, guest artists and those residing outside Oak Bay to take part in the Bowker Creek Brush-Up Art Show and Sale.

 

More than 2,000 attend this exciting outdoor event, where thirty to forty artists meet the public and demonstrate how they create their art. The friendly interactions between artists and attendees create a festive mood making this event a success!

 

If you are interested in art, have a favorite artist you want to meet there, or just want a chance to stroll in the park, then be sure to mark your calendar!

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 26 July 2024 - 02:18 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

 

The event coincides with the Bowker Creek Brush Up, Sunday, Aug. 11. Hosted by the Oak Bay Community Artists Society, the event will be held on the banks of Bowker Creek, from Hampshire Avenue to Armstrong Avenue. The event features the works of more than 50 artists.

 

 

 

For more information about the Bowker Creek Brush Up, go to oakbayartists.com/bowker-creek-brush-up.html.

 

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...ide-day-9321168

[Victoria Watcher]

10 years in: CRD looks to update 100-year plan for Bowker Creek

Updating a 100-year plan needs input from residents across Greater Victoria

https://www.vicnews....r-creek-8037980

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 31 May 2025 - 02:03 AM.

[LJ]

10 years in: CRD looks to update 100-year plan for Bowker Creek

Updating a 100-year plan needs input from residents across Greater Victoria

https://www.vicnews....r-creek-8037980

Well unless they want a result like Saanich got, I guess they better specify what demographic they want to respond so that they get the answers they like.

[Victoria Watcher]

Oak Bay dealing with contamination of Bowker Creek

Municipal crews responded to reports of pollutants in the waterway on July 8

https://www.vicnews....r-creek-8121539

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 09 July 2025 - 12:40 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

The mystery fuel fouling the fragile waters of Bowker Creek has been traced to a location somewhere in Victoria.

Now the race is on to determine the source and contain the fuel already in the stream as it spreads down the waterway and affects critical fish habitat.

Environmental group Friends of Bowker Creek, which has been working to turn the creek back into a salmon-bearing stream, called the spill one of the worst-polluting incidents in decades.

Gerald Harris, a director of the group, said by Thursday morning, the fuel had reached the lower reaches of the creek, where chum salmon incubation containers have been installed just before the water spills into the ocean at Oak Bay Marina.

Harris said a strong odour of fuel was in the air, and a sheen could be seen on the creek at Monteith Street, where a section of the waterway has been painstakingly restored for the first returns of salmon this fall in more than a century.

“This is a heck of a whack on the efforts to [reintroduce] salmon and for the whole ecosystem,” said Harris.

A City of Victoria spokesperson said Thursday that public works staff from Victoria, Saanich and Oak Bay, all of which have the creek flowing through their municipalities, have determined the leak originated in Victoria through a drainage system that flows into the creek.

But the city did not supply any immediate information about the location and cause of the leak or the amount of fuel involved.

 

 

https://www.timescol...ctoria-10923705

[Mike K.]

Harris said a strong odour of fuel was in the air, and a sheen could be seen on the creek at Monteith Street, where a section of the waterway has been painstakingly restored for the first returns of salmon this fall in more than a century.

Would that be, because four years earlier salmon were artificially/with human help hatched at this location?

[Victoria Watcher]

It’s an urban storm drain. Not sure why fish should be a priority. There are literally tens of thousands of streams on the west coast that make better habitats. People.

I guess fish are cool to have, if you want to work on that. But what’s the goal? I’m sure it’s not to increase fish stocks for harvest. It’s all a bit silly.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 11 July 2025 - 06:40 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

A retirement home in Victoria’s Jubilee neighbourhood is suspected to be the source of the fuel leak that has fouled a creek that flows through three capital region municipalities.

 

The City of Victoria said Friday that an estimated 150 litres of fuel had entered the storm-drain system from a private property at 1900 Richmond Rd., near Fort Street, the location of Amica Jubilee House.

 

Those storm drains empty into Bowker Creek.

 

Liam Brown, general manager of Amica Jubilee House, said building staff noticed a leak in a diesel storage tank that supplies the building’s generators during a routine safety walk-through on Tuesday morning.

 

“Our concierge noticed a puddle of diesel fuel on our sixth-floor roof,” said Brown, adding there is no confirmed cause for the leak, which is still under investigation.

 

The situation is being closely monitored, and there has not been any additional leakage, he said.

 

The entry point of the fuel through the drain system was in a long portion of Bowker Creek that goes underground north of Royal Jubilee Hospital and then returns to the surface at the Oak Bay border at Bee Street.

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...-spill-10934926

[Blair M.]

Slimy-statement as released to the press:  "we can't confirm the cause" - "we're still investigating" - "we're closely monitoring" - "there hasn't been any additional leakage".

 

Non-slimy statement (as yet unreleased to the press): "We accept that, if we are found to be responsible for the leak, we will accept and pay all costs related to the clean up and the remediation, including any and all fines levied as appropriate. As well, we unreservedly apologize to the municipality of Oak Bay, as well as the broader community for the damage we have caused".

[Victoria Watcher]

Like I say, it's just a storm drain.

 

Here is the leak in relation to the creek.

 

 

The 6th-floor oil did not flow down Fort Street, it just flowed through the storm drains until that drain entered into the creek.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 July 2025 - 12:28 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

[Mike K.]

Holy smokes. That’s quite a distance away.

[Victoria Watcher]

Holy smokes. That’s quite a distance away.

 

It's exactly where the storm drain is expected to take that oil, right to Bowker Creek, as designed.  Everything here worked as planned, except a large dump of oil into the system.

 

 

The "creek" is an open urban stormwater outfall.  Nothing more.  People have romanticized it.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 July 2025 - 06:48 AM.