Provincial approval has been granted to the Municipality of North Cowichan to go ahead with aeration trials to help improve the quality of the water in Quamichan Lake.
The trial includes three enclosures, approximately eight metres in diameter.
One of the three enclosures will be only aeration; the second will be combined with metal amendments, and the third will be left alone to see how the water was at the start.
Mayor Rob Douglas says this is being done to determine which method will be used if the trials are successful.
“We’ll compare them and determine the effectiveness,” he says.
The trials are expected to begin this winter and should provide a scope into how to move forward by cleaning up the body of water.
“We’re hoping to have the results by next spring or summer,” Douglas says. “If the trial is a success, we hope to plan these efforts across Quamichan Lake.”
Council agreed to recommendations to get support from the CVRD during the committee of the whole meeting.
Douglas says asking for funding assistance from the regional district makes sense because of the significance of Quamichan Lake plays.
“It’s part of the larger Cowichan watershed, and of significant importance to First Nations,” he says. “It’s also the site of Rowing Canada’s National Training Centre. We’re going to be bringing this forward to the CVRD board in our next budget.”
According to Douglas, there have been escalating concerns from people using the lake after the discovery of a blue-green algae bloom since 2016.
