Residents at Stump Lake are warning the local government about a potential fourth-straight catastrophic flood season next spring for some property owners.
Stump Lake resident Randy Bourne pleaded to the Thompson-Nicola Regional District to apply for funding from the province, through Emergency Management BC, to do flood mitigation work.
“Without any intervention, the level of the lake going into next spring freshet is going to be higher than it’s ever been in the last 100-plus years. If nothing is done, there will be significant damage, continued damage, at Stump Lake. But it will be felt all the way down to the city of Merritt.”
Bourne last spoke to the TNRD board on July 16.
“Not much has changed [since then] to the damages of the places at Stump Lake. The Gandi residence, last time I was here, they had five feet of water in the basement. They have three feet of water in the basement now… The Peters’ cabin: three years of water, continuously, in the basement of their place. It’s a write-off.”
Board chair Ken Gillis told Bourne the regional district understands the urgency of the request.
An independent study done by Kerr Wood Leidal (KWL) was released earlier this month, saying some water can be drained from Stump Lake through an outlet pipe without causing issues downstream, at an estimated cost of about $5 million.
KWL says the channel of Stumplake Creek between Stump Lake and Nicola Lake is “poorly defined,” and points out water crosses Highway 5A, a private road, two Ducks Unlimited Canada dams and a private dam at the Guichon Ranch.
It says a pasture field at Guichon Ranch is being deteriorated during the spring freshet, by “naturally occurring increased flows” from Stumplake Creek and Peter Hope Creek. The ranch is owned and operated by the family of Judith Guichon, the former Lt. Governor of B.C.from 2012 to 2018.
“The increased throughput of water conveyed over a longer period of time from an improved Stump Lake outlet would further change the composition of vegetation and soil chemistry that is already occurring,” the report says.
“As a result, the study conceptualized the development of a conveyance channel below Peter Hope Creek and into the upper Duck Unlimited Canada Flat Meadow or Canal Reservoirs.
The report says installing a low-level, 410-metre-long outlet pipe from Stump Lake would cost $2.2 million, and a channel through the Guichon Ranch pasture, which would be 4.6 kilometres long, would cost $2.8 million.
