ANOTHER GREAT YEAR AT THE BRIDGE LAKE FAIR
B1 AUGUST 21, 2013
$1.30 includes GST
Two sections, 48 pages
108 Mile Ranch aquifer pump testing underway
FANCY DANCER
LOCAL BUY AND SELL SITE LAUNCHED
Proof sought on theory the aquifer passing through 108 headed north
A14
Carole Rooney Free Press
FAMILIES ENJOY ANNUAL FARM DAY B4
INSIDE
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Carole Rooney photo
World-renowned dancer Ernie Philip, 83, of the Little Shuswap Band performed for chiefs, elders, adults and children from all 17 bands in the Secwepemc First Nation on Aug. 17. This year, the annual gathering was held over three days at the Watch Lake-Green Lake Gymkhana grounds, Aug. 16-18.
Kala Geosciences, the Cariboo Regional District’s consultant on its monitoring program for well and lake water levels in the 108 Mile Ranch, will begin pump testing later this month to determine if groundwater is flowing out of the community. CRD Area G Director Al Richmond says the consultants will be testing the north aquifer where there is an original pilot well, as they believe water is passing through the 108 Mile Ranch and heading north out of the community. “We’re going to conduct a 60-day pump test to monitor the impacts that pumping at that point has on the existing aquifer, where our main wells are drawing out of, to see if we can confirm their theories about how the water is flowing.” If the theory is true, he explains pumping at that point will reveal no effect on the community wells. Richmond notes the CRD is hoping to have the pump test completed and a report prepared by December. In May 2010, the CRD reported that studies completed in 1993, 1995 and 2007 indicated there is no short, direct link connecting surface (lake) water and (aquifer) groundwater supply, although surface water eventually filters through the lake bottom over a long
period of time. The regional district also had Kala perform a waterbalance study in 2009 to determine the amount of water that eventually filters through the clay and silt soils under the lake. However, Richmond explains that since then, Kala Geosciences is now better able to determine the effects the 108 water system’s wells have on the 108 Mile and Sepa lakes levels, supplying data that supported the recent tightening up of watering restrictions. He says this recent progress is the result of the research and testing the consultant and the CRD have had underway for the past two years on the 108 and Sepa lakes and area well levels, in working to determine the flow of water through the 108 Mile Ranch aquifer. More information is available online at www.cariboord.bc.ca, linked under Service > Utilities > Water Quality Monitoring. Meanwhile, tightened watering restrictions for residents on the 108 Mile Ranch water system began Aug. 13, due to overuse of the water system. Watering is restricted evennumbered addresses to yard sprinkling only on evennumbered days of the month, and odd-numbered addresses only on odd-numbered days. Watering is only allowed from 6 to 8 a.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. See related story on page A5.