Thursday October 19, 2023
CTV News —
With up to 120 millimetres of rain expected to fall on the east coast of Vancouver Island in the coming days, it’s welcome news for those protecting the Cowichan River and its chinook salmon spawn.
For more than a month, pumps have been pumping water over the weir on Cowichan Lake around the clock to maintain a minimal flow for salmon.
The pumps have only be been used before, back in 2019, but were only on for approximately 10 days.
The river is flowing at around 4.5 cubic metres per second, which is not ideal for chinook salmon. The river can typically see flows 10 times stronger than that during this time of year.