Beginning Friday night (June 22), BC Hydro will increase the Puntledge River flow threefold and keep it at that level through Monday to control the Comox Lake reservoir level.
BC Hydro advises the public to stay away from the Puntledge River over those three days.
Hydro is currently releasing about 32 cubic metre per second from the Comox Dam. high on the Puntledge near Comox Lake. The water discharge below the dam will increase to 110 m3/s by Saturday morning. The high river flow will be good for kayakers and help move water out of the reservoir.
The reservoir was at 134.7 metres and slowly rising early Thursday morning, about 0.6 metres from free-spilling over the dam. The level came up considerably from heavy rain a few days ago.
The snowpack is still high and BC Hydro is releasing more water to continue to absorb the snowmelt that will likely continue through July and potentially into early August.
BC Hydro’s updated water supply outlook for June to September shows water flows into Comox Lake to be about 129 per cent of normal, with a standard error of about 10 per cent should it be dry or wet. There is considerable water abundance this year similar to last year.
There is no risk of downstream flooding.
— BC Hydro