There is optimism the fish die-off of two years ago in the Cowichan River will not be repeated this summer, despite the challenging conditions.
Tom Rutherford of the Cowichan Watershed Board says following the loss of more than one-hundred thousand fish in the summer of 2023, a comprehensive monitoring system was created for the river.
Rutherford says six water quality monitoring stations were installed, “from the top end right down to the bottom end,” to continuously record information about conditions such as temperature, dissolved oxygen, and pH levels in the river.
He says it’s like an early warning system to let them know if dangerous conditions are developing anywhere in the river and help them determine what steps should be taken.
Rutherford says another difference this year was the decision to reduce the flow of water into the river earlier, which has resulted in better conditions being maintained.
“We’ve got more flow now, but still not as much as we’d like, for sure, but more now then we had in 2023, so that’s one of the things we can actually control a little bit and manipulate, and to be clear there are no good choices, it is trying to pick the lesser of the evils.”
As the dry weather continues, the level of Cowichan Lake continues to fall and there is concern the current flow of 5.5 cubic metres per second of water through the weir into the Cowichan River may have to be reduced to 4.5 CMS in August.
