748 replies to this topic

[Cassidy]

Why is Goldstream sitting at only 65%?  

8300 hectare watershed for Sooke.

 

2300 hectare watershed for Goldstream.

 

Goldstream takes a lot longer to fill given the same amount of rain.

[Victoria Watcher]

isn’t something missing in your calculation?

[Cassidy]

isn’t something missing in your calculation?

Don't believe so.

 

Much smaller watershed means much less water.

 

Enlighten me.

[Mike K.]

Goldstream reservoir’s capacity is roughly 1/9th the size of Sooke’s but it’s watershed is 1/4 the size of Sooke’s, so proportionally speaking Goldstream should fill at 2x the rate of Sooke, but it’s filling at what appears to be a much lower rate.

[Cassidy]

The watersheds are entirely different terrains, and entirely different in their effectiveness at getting water into the associated streams, rivers, and lakes.

 

The Sooke Watershed is a watermarking machine ... Goldstream not so much (which is why they developed Sooke despite already having Goldstream).

But I get your math (perhaps I should have said "smaller, less effective watershed") ... the math doesn't take into account the effectiveness of each of the actual watersheds to do the jobs assigned to them.

 

I was up at my placer claim just after Christmas, and the Leech River up above Sooke Lake right now is deadly, with high and fast water such that getting anywhere near it would be foolhardy. 

Edited by Cassidy, 03 January 2019 - 07:10 PM.

[Mike K.]

Oh man, and if it was crazy then it must horrifying right now.

[Victoria Watcher]

Don't believe so.

Much smaller watershed means much less water.

Enlighten me.

you have not mentioned the capacity of each reservoir.

[Cassidy]

Goldstream is about 1/10th the size of Sooke, but we don't use the Goldstream watershed system as a source of drinking water but for one week each year to do maintenance on the Kapoor Tunnel, so the capacity of Goldstream can't be looked at in the same light as the capacity of Sooke.

 

They're used for entirely different purposes for 51 weeks of the year.

[tjv]

We’ve had a #watercrisis since, like 2004 when we were told to conserve or run out of water. Then we over conserved and the CRD ran out of money. Then we paid more to conserve. Then we were told climate change will lead to drought. Now climate change is leading to excess precipitation. Then ...you get the picture.

The reservoir is currently overflowing like the Mississippi but in five months we’ll be facing water restrictions, and on it goes.

I've said it before and I will say it again, its about the cost of infrastructure to provide that additional capacity.  Increasing the dam is only one small part, then you need to consider adding say another 60" main from the reservoir to town and maybe another peaking reservoir or two.  May have to add a few more distribution mains as well

 

As a guess $250 million should cover it.  So it is worth it to have more green lawns?

 

With that said, I have no idea what capacity the infrastructure is running at the moment thou either and obviously we are talking about peak summertime flows

[lanforod]

^ water capacity isn't why i let my lawn go brown. The stupid cost to water it is.

[Nparker]

^ water capacity isn't why i let my lawn go brown. The stupid cost to water it is.

And the less water that gets used the more it costs.

[Victoria Watcher]

I've said it before and I will say it again, its about the cost of infrastructure to provide that additional capacity.  Increasing the dam is only one small part, then you need to consider adding say another 60" main from the reservoir to town and maybe another peaking reservoir or two.  May have to add a few more distribution mains as well

 

As a guess $250 million should cover it.  So it is worth it to have more green lawns?

 

With that said, I have no idea what capacity the infrastructure is running at the moment thou either and obviously we are talking about peak summertime flows

 

almost nobody would mind water restrictions for the 15 or 20 hottest days in summer when demand is at a very peak.  that's also the only time we'd need your extra mains and reservoirs.  but the blanket may to october restrictions means we have a dam capacity probleme nothing else.

[Cassidy]

We have Sooke, we have Goldstream, AND we have the (as yet 100% unused) Leech Watershed.

Capacity is not an issue in the CRD.

Water restrictions remain an unexplained encumbrance in the CRD. We really don't need them, yet we continue to have them applied each year. 

 

The CRD has more water available than they know what to do with, enough for constant growth in the CRD over the next 100+ years.

We have 3 completely separate watersheds, and we only make use of one of them (except for the one week per year that we use Goldstream)

 

For some perspective, the Leech receives more snow and rain than Sooke and Goldstream combined ... and we're not using even a single drop from it yet.

 

 

[Victoria Watcher]

For some perspective, the Leech receives more snow and rain than Sooke and Goldstream combined ... and we're not using even a single drop from it yet.

 

is the collection/storage system in place cassidy?

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 04 January 2019 - 08:51 AM.

[jonny]

Capacity is not an issue in the CRD.

 

Which is what we have griped about for years. By the CRD's own estimate, we will not need Leech for decades. "Phase 2 water restrictions."...lol

 

Water should be almost free, we have so much of it. I get a chuckle whenever I see those "I'm not washing my car because I'm saving water" bumper stickers. Saving it for what? Evaporation?

[Cassidy]

is the collection/storage system in place cassidy?

There has been a tunnel cored from the Leech River to Sooke Lake. It is unused to date though (and is sealed currently).

 

There are some important issues to solve before water from the Leech can be introduced into the Sooke Lake system ... issues related to turbidity in the Leech River, and introducing that turbid water into Sooke Lake.

The Leech River moves like a train on fire, where as the most active source directly into Sooke Lake currently is Rithet Creek, which is pretty tame to begin with, and further flows over a weir to moderate it even more ... as a result Rithet Creek introduces little to no turbidity.

 

They're working on those turbidity issues on the Leech River now (although largely just measuring them currently) even though the Leech Watershed isn't anticipated to be a required source of CRD water for another 50+ years (and there are many who say it will never be needed).

 

The intent isn't for a separate storage area for the Leech system, rather they will take water directly from the Leech River and move it (through the tunnel) into the Sooke Lake system.

Edited by Cassidy, 04 January 2019 - 10:21 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

hope politicians and officials have taken note of the climate change and the drought it’s bringing.



At Victoria International Airport, the 48.2 millimetres that fell Thursday beat the old Jan. 3 record of 27.2 mm set in 1936.

Victoria’s Inner Harbour saw its second-highest rainfall total for Jan. 3 at 35.6 mm, with the record of 58.4 mm set in 1895.

[Nparker]

hope politicians and officials have taken note of the climate change and the drought it’s bringing....

It has brought drought (don't you love English when two words that are spelled nearly the same are pronounced so differently?)...Our summers are definitely dryer than when I was a child here 40 years ago and our winter storms are becoming more severe.

[tjv]

almost nobody would mind water restrictions for the 15 or 20 hottest days in summer when demand is at a very peak.  that's also the only time we'd need your extra mains and reservoirs.

Its more than 15 or 20 days, heavy demand would start in early July and continue until mid September.

 

yes that is the only time we need additional capacity....now you know why there are restrictions

[Victoria Watcher]

why do you suggest carrying capacity is near max now on heavy demand says? never heard that suggested. just reservoir capacity.