With a lower than average snowpack this year, projections for a dry summer will affect Sun Peaks’ water restrictions.
Sun Peaks’ director of infrastructure Clint Burton, told SPIN as of April 1, “We were at 71 per cent of the normal snowpack this time of year for the North Thompson.”
“For a lot of water in this area, it gets frozen solid over winter,” Burton said. “Over the course of the year it melts, and constantly provides water into the streams and all those sorts of things.”
Burton’s goal is to get ahead of the low streamflow reports that are to be expected as the dry season begins by proactively getting the Sun Peaks public to follow stage two water restrictions.
“It’s a lot easier for us to move from stage two to stage three than it is to go from stage one to stage three,” he explained.
Current conditions and projections for the summer
Through B.C.’s drought portal you can see snowpack and streamflow levels, which Burton reiterated are already below normal.
Sun Peaks gets its water mainly from groundwater wells, which Burton said have been around for awhile.
“Anything we can do to minimize water use will take the burden off those groundwater wells,” he said.
Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality (SPMRM) received a grant of nearly $4.6 million to build a supply pipeline from a surface reservoir into their treatment plant.
This surface reservoir was built in the last few years at the top of Sundance. It acts as a secondary water supply source, although currently only during the winter, when they share the snowmaking line with the resort.
“Then we use groundwater for the rest of the year,” he said.
Knowing they may not get as much water in the surface reservoir this year, he said they’ll be monitoring groundwater production levels this summer.
What can we do to help?
At the end of last summer, water restrictions in Sun Peaks went to stage two on the advice of the Provincial government. Burton will continue meeting with the government every two weeks, and following stage two restrictions now will help mitigate worsening drought conditions before they get more serious.
“If there’s a really busy bike season and tourism season up here, there’s more people using facilities, having showers and that’s just that’s something that’s completely out of our control,” he said. However, as residents of Sun Peaks, there are some things you can do to lessen drought impacts.
Small things like running the dishwasher and laundry at full capacity are useful in decreasing water usage, Burton said.
“Hoses for use outside, should have spring loaded shut-offs,” he added, to ensure hoses don’t keep running unnecessarily.
For irrigation he said, “typically, even numbered addresses can sprinkle on even days, and odd numbered addresses can sprinkle on odd days.”
Now in stage two, it’s one day a week per property.
“Even numbered addresses on Wednesdays, odd numbers addresses on Tuesdays.”
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