Scott Stanfield
Record staff
A local conservation group is urging Courtenay council to make water conservation a strategic priority.
The idea is to provide uninterrupted water and sewer services while progressing towards solutions to drought and flooding.
The Comox Valley Conservation Strategy suggests a comprehensive Integrated Stormwater Management Plan (ISMP) could be a solution to water conservation, and to improved water quality and flows to aquatic habitat.
In a presentation, Jack Minard showed a “vastly reduced” glacier by comparing a recent photo of the Comox ice field to a 1984 image.
“This is very serious,” he said. “We’re losing that storage.”
Coun. Erik Eriksson asked about the possibility of installing a second dam — one of many ideas of the CVCS. Minard said Victoria, which has a second dam, would be fine even if the city received no rain for 10 years.
The group is seeking “ongoing” consultation with the City, Minard added, responding to a question from Coun. Doug Hillian.