A local residents group has been rscouring Area D for a potential new source of water, and they think they have found it.
Bob Solc and Debbie Solc are members of the Area D Residents and Ratepayers Group (ADRRA), and they worked with a consultant to identify a site on private land north of the Oyster River Nature Park that shows promise as a source to provide water not only for residents in the northern part of Area D, who are currently serviced by the City of Campbell River, but also residents in the south part, who are part of a system which operates with the adjacent Black Creek area of the Comox Valley Regional District.
“We believe there’s a very, very significant water source sitting here,” Bob Solc said.
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The Solcs are not lay folks when it comes to this kind of research. Bob has more than 40 years as an engineer and Debbie has more than 40 years as a geologist.
“We’ve done hundreds and hundreds of these analyses,” he said.
After a couple of months of field trips and research, ADRRA has completed its technical review and analysis using drilling reports, geological samples, ground penetrating radar data, production well information and satellite imagery over a defined area of the Oyster River flood plain. With information from current drilled wells, they have prepared seven technical maps defining the aerial extent of three potential potable water reservoirs.
“In total, we looked at about 70 wells,” he said. “This has never been done out here…. It has never been done by any consultant that we can see in the public domain.”
The site holds promise for a couple of current wells and would likely cover the required flow for the 1,200 households of northern Area D and those to the south.
“The last thing you want is to spend significant dollars and run out of water in the fall,” he said.
They found that static water levels in the wells do not appear to have changed over the last 50 years because of consistent recharge from rain and nearby water flow.
“What that tells you is you’re getting replenishment of water all the time,” Debbie Solc said.
The Oyster River-Black Creek system covering the population to the south represents a total of about 800 households. From the technical review, it appears the sites may provide more than 3,000 gallons per minute (gpm) of quality water, while the northern part of Area D is expected to need up to 750 gpm after conservation and metering is installed.
“That number’s a bit of a moving target,” Bob said.
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The Solcs and ADRRA are confident of the potential of the site, though they explain it will still be a lengthy process. They expect initial work to cost $112,000. This would include drilling of approximately 20 new exploration wells, retesting for all available suspended water wells, a ground-penetrating radar program and acquisition of additional geophysical information and satellite imagery data. The hope is to have Strathcona regional District (SRD) funding or a possible grant to get going this fall on more research to provide data to support grant applications for next year that would aim at bring the source online.
Ultimately, a well site and reservoir will have to connect with the south end of the current eight-inch pipe in Area, which would be an expensive proposition, though the Solcs point to government grants as a means to support the addition of this infrastructure. The Solcs have presented the information to the nearby Tlowitsis First Nation and the SRD and hope to go before the Comox Valley Regional District next month.
As far as Area D residents are concerned, a public information night on ADRRA’s findings wil be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 29 at the Oyster Bay Resort.