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Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Proudly serving Houston and District - Home of Canada’s Largest Fly Rod
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No. 28 $1.30 Inc. GST
Deadline for Irrigation dam By Jackie Lieuwen Houston Today
TRUCK Rollover
Jackie Lieuwen/Houston Today
A transport truck went off the road 16 km up the Morice River Road at 11 a.m. July 1. RCMP Sgt. Rose says efforts were made to contain the contents of the overturned truck, and the driver was issued a violation ticket.
The dam at Irrigation Lake does not meet safety standards and will be removed if plans are not in motion by July 29. Stakeholders of Irrigation Lake, also known as Dunalter Lake, got a letter June 26 from the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations saying that they want a new water licence holder and an engineered plan in place by July 29 or they will start pulling out the dam. “We’re almost in a panic mode because the letter says July 29, and everybody wants to go on vacation,” said Steve Page, representative for Rock Nest Ranch
and Rough Acres Bible Camps on Irrigation Lake. The Irrigation Lake dam, built in 1947, was found to be below safety standards in a B.C.-wide survey done after a 2010 dam failure near Oliver, B.C., which destroyed five homes and several orchards. After that dam failure, dam safety regulations changed in 2011 and as a result the Irrigation Lake dam changed classification from ‘low consequence’ (if the dam broke) to ‘significant consequence.’ Steve Page, representative for Rock Nest Ranch and Rough Acres Bible Camps on Irrigation Lake, said that change was a big deal. See DAM on Page 2
Highschool angling program at Irrigation Lake threatened By Jackie Lieuwen Houston Today
A local high school teacher is urging the Houston council to take action against the removal of the Irrigation Lake dam. The dam water licence holder abandoned the licence and the dam was found in 2011 to be below safety standards. As a result, the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural
Resource Operations sent a letter to stakeholders saying that someone needs to take over the water licence and they need a engineered plan for upgrading the dam by July 29 or else they will start pulling out the dam. Local high school teacher ted Beck says he does not want that to happen. “Irrigation Lake gets used a great deal because it’s nearby,
and it’s available in what it has to offer, and there is no other lake that offers that close to Houston,” Beck said to Houston council at last week’s meeting. Beck says that this past year, he started up an angling program at Houston Secondary School, which uses Irrigation Lake exclusively. For the program, students take the 15 minute drive to the
lake and use canoes rented from Rock Nest Ranch, one of two Bible camps on the lake. Beck says there is no other lake that close, that offers the angling opportunities of Irrigation, which is stocked with trout by the Ministry of Environment, and has the canoe availability. “I’m not sure how I’ll run [the angling program] next year if the lake is drained,”
said Beck. The school also runs an outdoor education course with a canoeing program, which is threatened by the potential dam removal, Beck said. He also noticed that the elementary schools use Rough Acres Bible Camp, which is on Irrigation, for an end of the year wrap up. Outside of his teacher role, Beck says the lake is also a
place where his family swims and fishes. It’s a place he says his daughters go with friends because it’s close and safe and there are lots of families who use the lake for fishing because it’s stocked. Beck said he recognizes that the situation with the lake is in provincial jurisdiction, and is looking for council to make connection with them.
HUGE CLEARANCE
INVENTORY
“I know that you folks represent people here in Houston and I’m looking for some sort of connection to be made to the provincial government (Dam’s B.C.), so that we can look for a solution to this,” Beck said. “I think this is a gem that we have within 15 minutes driving of our town. And it’s a gem that gets used by the citizenry of Houston.”
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