Fisheries society wants more paperwork from Banks Crescent project builder

SUMMERLAND — The Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C. says the developer must have a provincial groundwater license for a contingency water supply before it will support the proposed Banks Crescent development.

The Summerland Trout Hatchery is one of six such facilities operated by the FFSBC throughout the province.

The Summerland hatchery’s sole source of water is Shaughnessy Spring, an outlet from an artesian aquifer under the proposed development.

Previously, the FFSBC stated that support of the project rests squarely on, among other conditions, the identification of a permanent (i.e. life of hatchery) contingency water source of suitable quality and quantity required to maintain uninterrupted operations at the hatchery.

“It is a condition of our approval of the proposed project that any ‘Contingency Water Supply’ must be a proven source of accessible water, meaning that provision of a groundwater-based ‘Contingency Water Supply’ must include acquisition of water rights under the Province’s New Groundwater License Application process,” hatchery manager Kyle Girgan wrote in a March 15 email.

The email was sent to the developers, their geotechnical consultants and Summerland staff, mayor and council.

Recipients were informed that the FFSBC will consider any discussion of a groundwater supply speculative until there is certainty regarding the acquisition of groundwater rights.

“....... the outcome of the licensing process will be dependent on the results of a Provincial Government review (including mandatory First Nations Referrals and separate stakeholder consultations) and also subject to the Provincial Government’s discretion whether or not to issue the sought Groundwater License,” Girgan explained.

Girgan also wrote in his email that the FFSBC will not provide the developers with groundwater supply information from its other facilities.

“...we consider both the Summerland Trout Hatchery operational needs and hydrogeological setting to be unique and unlike our other facilities,” he wrote.

“We will continue to go through the process—stay the course—and see where it leads,” Girgan said in a telephone interview.