Flow at the Cowichan River will be reduced again with the lake at 48 per cent full.
Brian Houle, environmental manager at Domtar’s Crofton pulp mill, says a meeting with regulators of the watershed on July 7 led to an agreement to reduce flow from seven cubic metres per second (cms) to 5.5.
“Given the summer 2025 drought conditions in Cowichan Lake, careful watershed management decisions need to be made,” reads a news release from Houle. “Today’s water levels are not dissimilar to 2023, when several factors resulted in a fish kill event in the upper Cowichan River and pumping of lake to river was needed for extended period of 36 days in the fall.”
In May, the flow was reduced to seven cms and Houle said the plan was to hold that rate through July and August.
BACKGROUND: Cowichan River flow being reduced this week
In 2023, the river flow was reduced to 4.5 cms in May. Houle says keeping it at seven this year was intended to reduce impacts on fish.
“Domtar will have qualified professionals in the river to monitor the flow reductions and to take actions like salvage, when they find fish isolated from main stem due to the lower river flows.” the news release says.
Domtar is waiting for approval to reduce the flow beyond the license minimum of 7.08 cmc. The approval is needed from the provincial water manager and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
Houle says the flow reduction will happen in increments of 0.5 cms each day until it gets to 5.5 cms and each change will be announced before it is initiated.
