Policy & Positions Manual
Provincial Issues - Environment
Fraser River Sustainability and Flood Management (2007)
The Fraser River is a vast business generator in the Province of British Columbia. Hundreds of thousands of residents work directly or indirectly on the river, or with businesses and industry that rely on this vital waterway.
Recent abnormal weather events have served as a warning that ongoing efforts to maintain the elaborate system of dykes and pumps that protect farmland, industry and residents must be undertaken by all levels of government on a proactive basis.
The Fraser Basin is a vast geographical area drained by the Fraser River and its 13 main watersheds. Beyond its geographic importance, the Basin is a vital component of the province’s economic base. In addition to contributing a full 80% of the provincial economic output and 65% of total household income, it also contains 21 million hectares of forest. The Basin’s farms, ranches and orchards compromise half of all BC's agricultural lands. Eight major mines in the Basin account for 60% of BC's metal mine production. In addition, some of the province's and the world's most spectacular natural beauty and recreational opportunities abound in this area, contributing 67% of total tourism revenue. (1)
In addition, regular dredging of the main channel of the Fraser River must be undertaken to help avoid the threat of flooding, and to help keep the river open and navigable for shipping, commercial traffic, pleasure boating, and to further enhance the Pacific fishery.
Each year, enormous amounts of debris in the form of root balls, full trees, forest trash, and other materials are swept down the Fraser River. Until the advent of the debris trap, situated near Agassiz, the lower Fraser River and much of its estuary became non-navigable following the annual freshet. The trap captures the equivalent of 600 to 2400 highway logging truckloads of wood (90 – 95% of the debris is of natural origin). The net cost of operation of the trap is approximately $640,000 per year, including costs associated with the current funding approach. Funds are raised for the operation annually from a diversity of sources.
Even with the trap in operation, approximately 5000 m3 of waterborne debris is generated downstream in the lower Fraser River. This study estimates that the annual cost to manage this amount of debris and mitigate its impacts is approximately $1.59 million per year. If the trap were decommissioned, the amount of debris flowing into the lower Fraser River, and the incurred costs to manage it, would increase by at least six times to $9.55 million per year. For an investment of $0.64 million per year, it is estimated that at least $7.94 million in costs per year are avoided.
THE CHAMBER RECOMMENDS
That the Provincial Government work with the Federal Government to:
- create a program for regular maintenance of the dykes along the Fraser River estuary, and provide for regular dredging of the main channel of the Fraser River;
- support funding for permanent dyking;
- provide sustainable funding for these programs; and
- establish a permanent fund for the ongoing operation and improvement of the debris trap at Agassiz, and investigate the establishment of an additional trap to be situated on the lower reaches to catch debris from rivers such as the Coquitlam, Pitt and Allouette, i.e., near the Port Mann crossing.
Footnote
1 - Data provided by Fraser Basin Council. Further details available here
