Recent video and update on Langley Lake , Union Bay . Take a video tour and see for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watchv=fpdkmEUuNTM

The fate of Unions Bay's water supply is being decided KIP Public hearing Monday December 7th. 7:00 p.m. Submissions must be in to the CVRD by 4:30 p.m. Monday Dec. 7th , to the following e-mail address's.

bjolliffecomoxvalleyrd.ca (Bruce Jolliffe)
jimgillisshaw.ca (Jim Gillis)
edwingrieveshaw.ca (Edwin Grieve)
publichearingcomoxvalleyrd.ca

An Aerial View of Langley Lake - fasten your seatbelts!

by Janet Thomas

It is mind-boggling that such a small, shallow lake Langley Lake is going to service the drinking water needs of Kensington, a mega-development of nearly 3500 homes, several hotels, and 160,000 square feet of retail space.

Reports have been made by local residents of the Union Bay area that extensive logging has been done in the Langley Lake watershed recently. The view in the photo below and video confirm the tremendous amount of logging and changes to the watershed that have taken place over the past few years.

Previous aerial photography from 1994 to 2005 showed the percentage of logging in the watershed growing from 7% to 40%. It is now more than that with evidence of new logging north and west of the Langley Lake dam, and also on the north side--about 100 metres from the Lake, and extensive logging being done on the south side, the most important part of the watershed.

WHY IS THIS AN ISSUE?

Logging will not allow the watershed to act like a sponge and retain water for the drier months of summer. Without the existence of trees in the watershed, there is flash flooding during rainy months so that rainfall just bounces off the soil like rain falling on porcelain. Then there's very limited rainwater stored in the watershed in the summer months which could easily lead to severe water restrictions.

None of this data has been presented in Kensington water reports. It is a crucial piece of the drinking water puzzle, especially for such a small, shallow lake like Langley Lake. Approximately 3/4 of the lake is 5 metres or less in depth. And those peat islands reduce the storage even more.

Will the water supply needs of the Kensington development drain Langley Lake dry?

Even with raising the Langley Lake dam (and will that even be possible?) at 3.8 million dollars or whatever the latest estimate would be, the water supply won't last for more than a few more years at best. And then where does the community go for water? The Regional Water plan is a long way off.

The citizens of Union Bay are bound to end up "high and dry".