Campbell River System - Low Water Conditions

 

Updated April 28, 2008

Since early December, there have been drought-like conditions for the Campbell River system. The weather has been cool and dry, with water inflows in the Campbell River system year to date, being about 60% of historical average. As of April 28, Upper Campbell Reservoir and Lower Campbell Reservoir/McIvor Lake are at all-time historical lows.

Since early January, BC Hydro has made a number of operational changes to try to deal with the extreme weather conditions. The most recent change, on April 25, moved the Campbell River flow down to 63% of target. The river flow under BC Hydro's water license is for 79 cubic metres per second (m3/s) or above for this time of year, but is currently flowing at 50 m3/s. This reduction was done to conserve water in the reservoirs.

BC Hydro's updated inflow forecast estimates Upper Campbell Reservoir/Buttle Lake has a 50 per cent chance of reaching 218.8 m by June 15, and 219.2 by July 1. Ideal recreation on Upper Campbell Reservoir/Buttle Lake is about 219 m. As of April 28, the Upper Campbell Reservoir is at 209.5 m, approximately 1.3 m below it's all-time historical low. The reservoir is considered full at 220 m. For the Lower Campbell Reservoir and McIvor Lake, BC Hydro forecasts the reservoir going up about 2.5 metres over the April 28 level, to the 177.0 m recreation target range by June 21. As of April 28, the reservoir/lake is at 174.5 m, about 0.25 m below its all-time low.

Weather is highly variable, so operationally, BC Hydro will continue to monitor the situation closely and make changes to reflect the environmental situation. The reductions in discharge downstream will help in recovering reservoir levels over the next few months. There is a good amount of snowmelt to come down (about 100% of average), but given the very low inflows and existing reservoir levels, it will take extra water inflows to bring the reservoir to normal conditions.

BC Hydro will provide more updates in the weeks to come.

For more information on reservoir levels, please contact Stephen Watson at steve.watson@bchydro.com
or (250) 755-4795.