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B.C. Hydro’s aim to renew river licence hits rough waters at Maple Ridge council

Councillors want a fish passage, to connect the South Alouette to the lake
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Greta Borick-Cunningham, with ARMS, collects fish from the river. (THE NEWS/files)

B.C. Hydro’s request to extend the term of one its water licences on the South Alouette River ran into some white water last week at Maple Ridge council.

Hydro wants to renew the term of one of its licences that allows it to divert 8.5 cubic metres per second from the river into the reservoir, where water is then fed into the Stave Lake hydroelectric system.

In all, Hydro has a licence to divert a maximum flow rate of 28 cubic metres per second of water from the river.

Politicians, though, wanted to connect renewal of the water licence to B.C. Hydro building a long-awaited fishway that would connect the river to the Alouette Lake reservoir.

“I expect to spend the better part of my remaining term on this issue,” said Mayor Nicole Read, who will not seek re-election in the fall.

Coun. Gordy Robson questioned B.C. Hydro’s use of the water in the South Alouette River. “The recreational value of the river is a trickle in the summer,” said Robson.

He asked what was the value, in dollars, of electricity generated by the water it diverts from the South Alouette River.

“I think that B.C. Hydro has had their run on that river. I think the dam should now be for the benefit of the community and the Katzie [First Nation] who had their living taken away from them. I’m absolutely opposed to this renewal.”

The city’s comments on the request will be part of the application that will be submitted to the B.C. water comptroller.

The Alouette Dam was built in 1926 to provide a reservoir that would feed water into the Stave Lake system, in which hydroelectric power is generated f0r Metro Vancouver. Underground tunnels at the north end of Alouette Lake channel water into the Stave Lake. There is also an 11-megawatt power generator in that location that has been out of service since 2010.

Coun. Craig Speirs noted that the cost of the remaining 50 years of the Alouette lake fertilization program, for which B.C. Hydro pays, could add up to $8 million, which could easily pay for a fishway.

The fertilization program involves putting nutrients into the lake to sustain the kokanee salmon population.

Maureen De Haan, with B.C. Hydro, said that the water licence renewal and study of a fishway are separate processes.

De Haan noted that Hydro, through its Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program, has contributed about $663,000 in the last 17 years to the Alouette River Management Society, the volunteer group that manages the river.

However, the fish passage decision framework, currently underway as part of the compensation program, can make recommendations to the water licence renewal application.

Hydro also pays grants, school taxes and water rental fees, and is paying for a study looking at the feasibility of re-establishing Alouette sockeye.

The idea of restoring a sockeye run, destroyed when the dam’s construction blocked sockeye access back to the lake, was kickstarted a decade ago when sockeye fry that had been released over the dam returned a few years later to the base of it, attempting to get back to the lake to spawn.

But numbers of returning sockeye have decreased steadily.

Currently, any sockeye that reach the base of the dam are trucked around it, then dumped into the lake, where it’s hoped they’ll spawn.

“We understand that, for the moment, those efforts are sufficient given the number of fish that are returning,” De Haan said.

Robson has long pressed for a fish passage connecting all species of salmon back to the Alouette lake.

“If we could get that done, it would be so great for our community. It would be a restoration of a river. It would be a milestone in B.C.’s salmon history.”

He said Maple Ridge and Katzie First Nation should now have more of a say in the river’s management.

“It would be a major tourism asset. It would be a major environmental asset in the community and hopefully would help restore some of the salmon of the Fraser River.”

The Alouette River group signed the first water-use agreement in the province with B.C. Hydro in 1997. That was known as the Alouette Water Use Plan, providing minimal flows to the river.

But Coun. Bob Masse said the focus isn’t just on sockeye, and whether there’s enough numbers returning to justify a fishway.

“That’s not where we’re at. We want fish passage for all species of salmon,” Masse said.

River society president Cheryl Ashlie doesn’t see B.C. Hydro advancing the fish passage decision process, which has been going on for years.

“At this point, we’re not hopeful.”

The city isn’t considered a stakeholder in the licence renewal process, she added.