The City of Nelson is blaming “a number of unanticipated factors” that left a section of Anderson Creek dry and, by one resident’s reckoning, hundreds of fish dead.
According to a statement from the city, crews worked through the night to resolve the issue, which was related to an emergency repair earlier in the day at the Five Mile Creek water intake, which supplies the city with 70 per cent of its drinking water.
To complete the work, the water intake was shut down and the city’s water was switched entirely to its secondary sources of Anderson and Selous Creeks. The bypass was in place for six hours and was lifted shortly after 4 p.m.
However, the city said several problems, including high residential water use and infiltration in the creekbed (the amount of water that seeps into the ground) left the creek dry.
The City of Nelson is licensed to divert 1.5 million gallons of water per day from this system to supply households.
“The city has been made aware that a number of fish were found in the creek bed when the water levels dropped,” the statement said. “City personnel are working closely with environmental consultants, biologists, and regulatory officials to investigate this incident.”
All three water sources are now back online and supplying water to the city. However, all three creeks (Five Mile, Anderson, and Selous) are at their lowest point. The city is on Stage 2 water restrictions.
City staff were not immediately available for further comment, but resident Brent Holowaychuk told Vista Radio he was “in a bit of disbelief, because in 11 years we’ve lived there, we’ve never seen no water in the creek.”
“There was literally no water other than some pockets of pools. Sometimes fish were in them, as little as a saucepan. Some larger pools may have had the depth of a few gallons.”
While his first thought was to transport the surviving fish to the lake, that proved impractical. So Holowaychuk and his son started walking the creek bed and moving fish from the smaller pools to the slightly larger ones to increase their odds of survival.
He said they went about two blocks uphill from Gordon Road to Kokanee Street.
“There were hundreds upon hundreds of dead fish in the creek,” he said. “It was shocking. It was the most horrible way to do a fish count I could ever imagine.”
Holowaychuk estimated there were at least 300 dead fish of various sizes within a stretch of 100 meters. He thought most were brook trout.
He said water started flowing again in the creek around 11 p.m.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada said it is aware of the incident and has officers looking into it, but declined further comment.
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