The City of Cranbrook is continuing to press provincial and federal governments for more funding support towards the replacement of the Gold Creek Dam, a key piece of the city’s water supply infrastructure.
Cranbrook mayor Wayne Price has sent a letter to a number of cabinet ministers with both B.C. and federal governments, soliciting financial support towards the estimated $14 million dam replacement project.
“The existing Gold Creek Dam is failing. The water harnessed by this dam is the primary water source for the City,” wrote Mayor Price. “The dam allows for a small water pool and diversion of pristine water to supply our community reservoir. We do not have any other reliable source of clean water. Rebuilding the dam will protect the community from a dam failure and loss of water supply and allow for a safe and secure source of water for Cranbrook well into the future.
“Our community is routinely threatened by an increasingly severe and frequent wildfire risk. We are actively investing in improvements to our housing and zoning regulations. Should the Gold Creek Dam fail, our ability to supply fire flow and safe drinking water to the community would be compromised, as Gold Creek is a primary water source.”
In a press release, the city notes that the federal government recently pledged $6 billion in new money as part of a new infrastructure fund created in response to Canada’s housing crisis, including $1 billion for urgent municipal infrastructure needs.
The city is already moving forward on planning and design work for the Gold Creek Dam replacement, in hopes that it can attract grant funding by getting the project as shovel-ready as possible.
“We implore the Provincial and Federal Governments to step up and recognize the monumental risks our community is facing and recognize the immense investment we have made to plan and prepare for those risks, by providing infrastructure funding for this critical water supply asset,” wrote Price.
Copies of the letter were also sent to Kootenay East MLA Tom Shypitka and Kootenay-Columbia MP Rob Morrison, both of whom caucus with opposition parties in the B.C. Legislature and the House of Commons, respectively.
Recently, the city received a $9.5 million grant for the Phillips Reservoir UV Disinfection Facility, which will add a second layer of water treatment complementing the city’s existing chlorine gas treatment. Current drinking water quality regulations mandate a two-treatment process for water systems that use a surface water supply, as the Phillips Reservoir does.
With the addition of a UV Disinfection facility, the city will meet all drinking water treatment objectives, except for certain filtration requirements. However, within those objectives, there is a process for filtration deferral for systems that meet certain criteria.
With the addition of the UV Disinfection facility, the city will be in a good position to warrant that deferral, according to staff.
In terms of potential impacts to the city’s water supply, Gold Creek Dam replacement is a critical need.
The city pulls water supply from the Joseph Creek and Gold Creek watersheds, with the Gold Creek Dam serving as the primary water source for Cranbrook, as it flows into the Phillips Reservoir.
According to a staff report from September 2023, the city has first water rights to Gold Creek, with a water license that allows up to 13,402 megalitres per year (2,948 million imperial gallons per year).
Additionally, the city has third water rights to Joseph Creek, with a water license that allows 15,607 megalitres per year (3,433 million imperial gallons per year) and up to 44 megalitres per day (9.68 million imperial gallons per day).
The city cannot take any more water from Joseph Creek due to minimum flow requirements and because two water license holders have higher water rights ahead of the city.
That means water from Gold Creek is regularly added into Joseph Creek at a diversion facility to supplement supply and meet minimum flow requirements during low flows.
The Gold Creek Dam was first built in 1912 to take water from Gold Creek to the then-Joseph Creek Dam, which is now the Idlewild Dam, using a combination of pipes and an open ditch structures. While the Gold Creek dam has undergone upgrades over the years, the dam itself has never been reconstructed.
The dam has a capacity of approximately 30 megalitres, but is in its current state only holds one or two megalitres due to build up of sedimentation.
Once the new dam structure is completed, it will have capacity of up to 200 megalitres.