Did Anyone Expect Rio Tinto (Alcan) to Say Increased Flows May Have Contributed To Flood In Prince George

By Ben Meisner

If any  of the people  who attended the fifth and final Community Information Forum expected Rio Tinto (Alcan) to say it released about three times as much water into the Nechako River as normal and that could have been a contributing factor in why we had a flood in mid winter, they should pinch themselves to wake up from  that dream.

To add insult to injury, Henry Klassen from Vanderhoof was decrying the benefits of a cold water release. How in the world that would lead to less flooding taxes the mind.

Now some facts.  May I once again quote the Director of Management & Standards for Water Stewardship for the province of BC. Glen Davidson :  “ You most always get flooding downstream of a dam “ As a matter of fact that occurs so much that under the Utilities Act, BC Hydro cannot be held liable for any damage caused by that flooding downstream .

Rio Tinto (Alcan) doesn’t enjoy that immunity.

Again quoting Glen Davidson, as of December 14^th 2007 who told Opinion250  that while the flows into the Nechako that Alcan has been releasing may not have been the sole reason for flooding in Prince George, they  could contribute to them "The more water you have in a river the bigger the problem to deal with ."

The cold water release that Henry Klassen alludes to, would see less water in the summer released into the Nechako. But now consider what happened when Alcan’s power lines failed and half of the generators at Kemano had to be shut down. If you can’t spill the water through the Kemano River and you have all that saved up water because of a cold water release, now what are you going to do with it Henry? You can only send it one way and the people of Vanderhoof found out which way that was this past year.

Unless you have some way of diverting the water through the Kemano River we will, plain and simple,  face the same problem as we experienced this winter again.  

Rio Tinto (Alcan) is not obligated to spill water for flood protection; their interest is in managing the reservoir to get the maximum benefit from that water. They want the dam as near to capacity as possible at all times. 1 inch of water is worth millions in that reservoir and until the people of the region realize that, they will never have a true picture.

Finally, did anyone expect Rio Tinto to stand up at last night’s meeting and say, "well we weren’t responsible for the entire flood but due to the fact that we were spilling three times as much water as a normal year , we may have contributed to the problem, here is our cheque book, how much would you like?".

Did you expect to hear that?  If you did,  start pinching yourself, it’s time to wake up.

 I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.

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