Pumping Blind - Part 2

The problem is easily stated: how to store a little more of the extra rain that's falling to get us through longer, drier summers and quench the thirst of growing populations. One option is to expand existing reservoirs by raising the dams that contain them. Another is to create new storage reservoirs in valleys not yet dammed. Either choice means flooding more land and wildlife habitat a controversial prospect certain to spark intense resistance from environmentalists and First Nations.

Topping up the tank
Langley is testing a third choice: turn natural aquifers into underground reservoirs by directing rainwater collected from rooftops into wells that deliver rather than withdraw water. The idea of such active recharge is hardly new; it's been practiced for years in drier parts of the world like California, Arizona, India and the mid-east. But the Yorkson Village development is the first to pioneer the idea in British Columbia, possibly in all of Canada. Its 85 homes have a number of eco-friendly features that qualify them for the Canadian Home Builders Association's "Built Green" standard. Most of those are designed to reduce the environmental impact of construction and lower the homes' overall energy use. But one feature not included in that standard may have a greater long-term significance. When it rains, water that runs off the homes' roofs (shingled in non-toxic material) will drain through sand filters on each building lot to a neighbourhood holding tank. Once the development is completed (the delay is to allow dust kicked up by construction to settle), that water will be directed down a "recharge" well into the aquifer 100 feet underground.

The idea is still an experiment. "We'll watch it for the next five or so years, and see how it compares to some of our other sites where we haven't done it," Brad told me when I visited Yorkson Village. If everything works as expected, and the rain captured from these homes helps stem the aquifer's decline, the idea may be adopted into a future revision of the Township's subdivision bylaw.

In this corner of the Lower Mainland then, winter rain may soon help to top up the water "tank" without the need to drown any more valleys. It's one hopeful sign that British Columbians' disregard for the water we take so easily for granted, until it runs out, may be changing. There are others. I'll have more on them next Thursday in my final report in this series.

"Expanding the Dialogue on Climate Change and Water Management in the Okanagan Basin, British Columbia" is available online (requires scrolling down). An updated study by the same researchers is complete, but was not released by the time this story was filed, pending translation of the executive summary into French, as federal policy requires.

Veteran journalist Chris Wood is recipient of a Tyee Fellowship for Investigative Reporting, which provided the funds necessary to do the in-depth reporting in this series. Tyee Fellowships for Investigative and Solutions-oriented Reporting are supported by donations from Tyee readers and intended to support independent journalism to educate the public about critical issues facing British Columbia. If you are interested in making a tax-deductible donation, please go here. If you are interested in applying for a fellowship, please go here.

Wood is working on a book, Dry Spring: When the Water Runs Out, forthcoming from Raincoast Books.

Link: http://thetyee.ca/News/2006/08/24/PumpingBlind/