Chapman Water Expansion
Brief History
The SCCA was born out of the successful campaign to protect the headwaters of the Chapman Creek Watershed within the Tetrahedron Provincial Park in 1997. Since then, we’ve worked consistently to protect the public’s right to control activity in our watersheds and manage them strictly for the purpose of providing safe, clean drinking water.
A defining moment for the SCCA was in the summer of 2007, when logging in the Chapman sparked a public uproar, with residents blockading logging roads and staging large demonstrations. In response, the SCCA initiated a citizen's public health complaint, which led to a series of ground-breaking legal actions – in partnership with the SCRD and West Coast Environmental Law.
Around 2012, a new threat emerged as the Coast began experiencing prolonged droughts in the summer months, which affected water levels in Chapman Lake. By 2015, the looming “water deficit” had reared its head as the SCRD enforced Coast wide emergency water restrictions for nearly six weeks. In 2017, we once again reached critical Stage 4 drought levels. In response, SCRD directors pressed forward with an ill-informed plan to remove Chapman Lake from the heart of the Tetrahedron Provincial Park to convert the lake into a drinking water storage reservoir.
The SCCA initiated another public campaign. We entreated the Province to stop the project and protect the Park and encouraged the SCRD to focus on conservation and source diversification. We engaged NGO allies from across BC including the CPAWS, The Wilderness Committee, Federation of BC Mountain Clubs, and worked with our MLA, Nicholas Simons to make our case to BC Minister of Environment, George Heyman.
Finally, in early 2019, Minister Heyman made his decision to reject the request to take land out of the Tetrahedron Provincial Park. The Minister reinforced our message to the SCRD encouraging it to continue researching alternative solutions beyond the use of Chapman Lake, to improve the existing water supply system.
Updates on Chapman Creek Expansion
Chapman Watershed Must Remain Protected
A bogus petition calling on the BC Minister of Environment to remove lands from the Tetrahedron Provincial Park and enable further development of Chapman Lake is circulating in our community. This request is an unfounded, misleading non-starter. The Tetrahedron Provincial Park Master Plan includes a requirement for comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) when a new activity is proposed in a park. […]
Drought and Drinking Water
Diversification of drinking water sources, protection of source area ecosystems, and environmental flows are crucial for the long term sustainability of the local drinking water system. The Sunshine Coast is experiencing drought. Again. Lawns are brown, farms are suffering, streams are dry and fish are stranded. A week after the IPCC declared Climate Code Red, […]
Tell BC Parks we say no to degrading Chapman Lake!
BC PARKS OPEN HOUSE – THURSDAY MAY 24th As part of BC Parks consultation process, they are hosting another Open House to get input from our community on either revoking the Tetrahedron Provincial Park’s Class A status, or removing Chapman and Edwards Lake from the Park in order to build the Chapman Water Expansion Project. […]
Chapman Water Expansion Open House May 2018
Chapman Water Expansion Open House May 2018 BC Parks Open House Wednesday May 2nd, 5-7pm at Seaside Center, seeks input on either revoking the Tetrahedron Provincial Park’s Class A status or removing Chapman and Edwards Lake from the Park in order to build the Chapman Water Expansion Project. The Chapman Water Expansion Project would degrade […]
SCRD talks Chapman watershed again!
This Thursday morning, SCRD Directors will participate in a special Infrastructure Services Committee (ICS) meeting about our Chapman watershed system and the proposed projects to maintain adequate water supply. You can read the agenda HERE including SCRD staff reports outlining details on the four proposed projects to address water supply issues: water metering, investigating wells, […]
SCRD Board to revisit Chapman expansion
SCRD Board to Revisit Chapman Expansion Concerned citizens filled the gallery at the SCRD offices for the February 8th Board meeting, where the Board discussed the letter sent from the District of Sechelt to the SCRD, “requesting that all reasonable and expeditious measures be taken to secure an expanded water supply on behalf of the […]
SCRD Board meeting on Chapman expansion
Concerned about the proposed draw-down of Chapman Lake? Please join us at the SCRD Board meeting this Thursday, where they’ll be re-evaluating the controversial proposal to blast a water draw-down trench into Chapman Lake in the Tetrahedron Provincial Park. Thursday, February 8th 1:30 pm at SCRD offices: 1975 Field Road It’s important to attend this […]
WCEL Letter to FLNRO re Chapman Lake Expansion
WCEL Letter to FLNRO re Chapman Lake Expansion FLNRO gets a letter from West Coast Environmental Law about illegal infrastructure expansion proposal at Chapman Lake On November 17th, West Coast Environmental Law sent a letter to the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations (FLNRO): Forests Lands and Natural Resource Operations, Water Authorizations, is […]
WCEL Letter to BC Parks and SCRD re Chapman Lake Expansion
WCEL Letter to BC Parks and SCRD re Chapman Lake Expansion BC Parks and SCRD get a letter from West Coast Environmental Law about infrastructure expansion at Chapman Lake “We write … to enquire about the legal basis for a proposal to expand water infrastructure into Tetrahedron Provincial Park. It is our position that the proposed […]
Water Pump for Chapman Lake Raises Concerns
The Sunshine Coast Conservation Association and the Tetrahedron Alliance are concerned that potential alterations to the Chapman Lake water storage system will have serious deleterious impacts on the Tetrahedron Park ecosystem, yet will not solve the Coast’s summer water supply problems. The SCCA has submitted a Backgrounder on Chapman Lake water storage management and is […]