Pray new weir not too little, too late
Dear CVRD directors and chairman:
I’m delighted the design of our new multi-million dollar weir on Cowichan Lake has finally been unveiled.
Sadly, by the time this protracted project is completed perhaps sometime in late 2024, according to the Citizen’s July 22 story, it may be too late to provide enough flow volumes to save our precious Cowichan River from rising climate change.
Our sluggish provincial government slacked for more than a decade regarding approval for a higher-storage volume weir to mitigate climate change’s deadly threats to our heritage, salmon-bearing river.
The CVRD also failed to apply to Victoria to assume control of the river’s two flow permits.
Instead, those permits remained with the Crofton pulp mill that should never have been granted those licences in the 1950s.
Meanwhile, Mother Nature’s fall rains have perennially saved our beloved river from a slow death.
Let’s pray our new weir isn’t too little, too late.
Yours in river ecology,
Peter W. Rusland,
North Cowichan