Tag Archives: Quadra Island

Water

Joint We Wai Kai/ ICAN Team Monitoring Quadra Island Wells

Editor’s note: The well monitoring currently underway Quadra Island is a model of how this could be done on Cortes.

A joint We Wai Kai/ ICAN Water Security team has been monitoring Quadra Island wells for the past month as part of a much larger project to calculate the island’s water budget.   

“At the moment 13 wells are being monitored, and another three or four will be added from Cape Mudge. So there will probably be 17 deeper wells and  Eileen McKay, particularly, has been saying for a while that we need to add shallow wells.  We’ll be doing that hopefully this year,” explained Nick Sargent, a former professional hydrologist who is overseeing the well monitoring.

Continue reading Joint We Wai Kai/ ICAN Team Monitoring Quadra Island Wells →
Transportation

Four fully electric BC Ferries vessels scheduled for 2027

BC Ferries (BCF) is expanding its number of Island Class hybrid-electric vessels, with four more contracted to Damen Shipyards Group (Damen) as per their Jan. 16 press release.

While the six Island Class ships currently operating on various routes across the province use both electric and diesel power, the future ships are designed to run solely on battery, with the diesel engine as a fail-safe.

Two routes are slated to receive a pair of the future ships to operate the respective connections in tandem: Nanaimo-Gabriola and Campbell River-Quadra (Quathiaski Cove). Currently older versions of Island Class vessels operate on these routes. In contrast, the newest ships will be built to run powered solely by rapid-charging technology that will be constructed at the terminals to coincide with the 2027 deployment. The Island Class electrification project is estimated to reduce emissions by 10,000 tons of CO2 equivalent.

Continue reading Four fully electric BC Ferries vessels scheduled for 2027 →
Water

Mapping Wetlands on Quadra, and what that means on Cortes

The ICAN water security team and We Wai Kai Guardians are getting prepared to map Quadra Island’s wetlands. It is part of a much larger project which also involves monitoring the island’s rainfall, streamflow and wells. As you will hear in the interview that follows, this project is also relevant  to surrounding islands like Cortes. Bernie Amell, a recognized authority in the design of constructed wetlands for water treatment, and in the restoration of streams and riparian habitats, is in charge of mapping the wetlands. 

Continue reading Mapping Wetlands on Quadra, and what that means on Cortes →
Water

Studying The Water Budget For Quadra Island; a model for the future

ICAN’s water security team and the We Wai Kai First Nation have embarked upon an exploration of Quadra Island’s water systems.

While this is a Quadra study, everything they are doing is applicable to Cortes and every other British Columbian island where there is a sizeable population. They are offering a model of how we can prepare for the future.  

“The project started a number of years ago, really centered on the concerns of local people on Quadra about the nature of their water supply. People were really worried about what was going to happen with both climate change, whether it’s going to be getting hotter (particularly in the summers) and with development. Every new person that moves on to the island usually sinks a well. If they sink a well, they’re pulling quite a bit of water out of the aquifer. We wanted to know, would the aquifer actually meet our needs? Also, what needs does the environment have? And what will happen when things like climate change influences the availability of water,” explained Colin Chapman, who, together with his partner Claire Hemingway, is a key leader in this project. 

Continue reading Studying The Water Budget For Quadra Island; a model for the future →
Waste

Poop happens: the debate about waste management is serious

Editor’s note: A lot of communities have problems with poop. The Lower Mainland has ‘aging and poorly engineered or maintained sewers’ that ‘are increasingly at risk of overflowing with raw sewage due to increased demand and more intense rainstorms.’ This is a more individual matter on Cortes and Quadra Islands. However one of the contributing factors to Hague Lake’s algae blooms in 2014 and 15 was leakage from some of the aging septic systems on the shore. A number of articles on the net suggest septic tanks can last 20 – 40 years, depending on how they are maintained. This suggests that a lot of older houses may need to have their septic systems (and tanks) checked and possibly replaced. On Cortes Island, 51% of the houses were built sometime prior to the end of 1990 and 70% before December 31, 2000. The percentage is higher in Area C: 61% and 83%, respectively.

By Sidney Coles, Capital Daily, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Poop and the question of what to do with it seems to be a singularly contentious issue for the CRD and one that has been floating around, in one form or another, for years. It was only in 2017 that Victoria finally decided to stop dumping its raw sewage into the waters off its coast and build the $1B sewage treatment plant at McLoughlin Point. Now, it has a new problem: What to do with all of the bio-waste that is currently accumulating in its Saanich Hartland landfill?

Continue reading Poop happens: the debate about waste management is serious →