Okanagan Lake dam due for an upgrade, report suggests

Report on province’s response to 2017 floods, wildfires says dam capacity may be exceeded at times

An independent review of British Columbia’s response to last year’s wildfires and flooding suggests it may be time to upgrade the dam at the south end of Okanagan Lake to help prevent flooding.

The review makes 108 recommendations and calls for an overhaul of disaster response practices.

Wildfires and floods last year displaced 65,000 people, while the unprecedented fire season scorched more than 1.2 million hectares, costing more than $630 million.

There were no fatalities in the 1,342 fires.

The review released Thursday says there should be a partnership with First Nations and local, provincial and federal governments to better prepare for emergencies.

Former Liberal cabinet minister George Abbott and hereditary chief Maureen Chapman, who is from the Chilliwack area, were appointed last December to undertake the first major examination of fire response programs since 2003, when about 2,500 fires destroyed more than 300 homes and businesses.

The report titled “Addressing the New Normal: 21st Century Disaster Management in B.C.” does not include an estimate of how much it would cost to implement its recommendations.

Abbott said after releasing the report Thursday that he came to endorse the practice of prescribed burns as a fire prevention tool after meeting with local residents, Indigenous leaders, academics and government experts during public and private meetings for the review.

“They offer, I think, a realistic way of providing prevention and community safety,” Abbott said.

A section of the report analyzed the 2017 flooding in the Okanagan, stating many residents blamed Shaun Reimer, section head of public safety and protection with the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, for not letting enough water out of Okanagan Lake.

In the report, Reimer explained models were predicting a drought last year.

“One of the big puzzles last year was the rain and how fast the inflow came into Okanagan Lake,” he said. “It overwhelmed our ability to get water out.”

Looking back, Reimer said he should have started releasing water from the lake much sooner.

One of the recommendations in the report includes reviewing operating plans for the Okanagan Lake regulation system and any other provincially owned and managed water management infrastructure, and to adapt those plans to include consideration of uncertainty in stream-flow forecasts.

Another recommendation is to evaluate the capacity of provincially owned water management infrastructure to pass flows and modify the infrastructure as needed.

“The 2017 flood season in the Okanagan and its subsequent impact on the Okanagan Lake regulation system suggests system capacity may be stretched to its limits, or beyond, during critical periods,” the report said.

The report says last year’s experience “demonstrated the consequences of ignoring the growing gap” between spending on response versus mitigating the impact of disasters through planning, preparedness and prevention.

“The time to invest is now,” it says.

A report done by former Manitoba premier Gary Filmon on destructive B.C. wildfires in 2003 called on the government and municipalities to fireproof forests around communities and suggested the province had an opportunity to implement strict fire reduction initiatives through policies and legislation.

Forests Minister Doug Donaldson said the government has internal reports gauging its response last summer, but wanted an independent review that included recommendations.

As part of the 2018 budget, Donaldson said the government has already committed $50 million over three years to wildfire prevention and wildfire risk reduction.

The government will develop an action plan to address the recommendations in the report by Oct. 31.