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CHalleNGes and OppOrtuNities for sustainable water stewardship in
The Upper
Kiskatinaw River
At the time the US Army Corp of
Engineers constructed the City of Dawson Creek’s
water supply system during the Second World
War, it would have been hard to imagine how
much the landscape within the upper Kiskatinaw
River Watershed (UKRW) would change in the
decades to follow. The unstable silty drainage
system, that gave definition to its Woodland
Cree name of ‘muddy river,’ is known for its high
natural spikes in turbidity after spring freshet and
intense rainfall periods. Very little land-use activity
in those days would have added to this impact
in the watershed. Traditional resource harvesting,
by both First Nations and the rural settlers who
farmed and ranched in the lower reaches of the
drainage system, included annual fishing for
Arctic grayling and bull trout in the tributaries.
Natural processes that cause frequent slope
erosion and sedimentation have remained the
dominant operational challenge, particularly after
winter thawing and spring freshet.
Once raw water is pumped from an intake
on the river near Arras, it is elevated and filtered
through a series of four constructed reservoirs with
200 million gallons of capacity over a distance
of 16 km to the treatment plant located just
south of the City. Given this reliance on the upper
The City of Dawson Creek’s water supply area
in the Upper Kiskatinaw River
28
Watermark Spring 2012
By Reg C. Whiten, P.Ag. MCIP, Watershed Steward, City of Dawson Creek
Kiskatinaw River, local and provincial government
officials have long recognized the need for a
constant vigil over how the watershed is managed
to sustain community and commercial water needs.
The current water licence provides for 9,600 m 3 /
day maximum extraction – an amount equivalent
to approximately four Olympic size swimming
pools – and treatment capacity ranges from 1.6 to
3.0 million gallons/day from winter to summer.
By 1990, it was apparent to officials at
the City of Dawson Creek that protecting its
domestic water supply area would require a more
coordinated approach among upstream resource
users. Under the direction of its water resource
manager, the City created its first ‘integrated
watershed management plan’ – one of the
first for a northern interior local government in
the province. Land and resource management
planning (lRMP) in the mid-1990s, and increased
regulation and oversight from the Forest Practices
Code led to watershed assessments and the
fostering of ecosystem-based forest harvesting
practices. By the late 1990s, the Bearhole Lakes
Provincial Park and Protected Area was created to
provide permanent protection for the headwater
sub-basins. Some additional management
direction in the Dawson Creek lRMP provided
The Upper Kiskatinaw River:
A domestic drinking watershed
with multiple land-use activities
for a 1,000 m Enhanced Management Zone within
the lower Kiskatinaw River main-stem corridor, but
no restrictions were set out regarding the type of
industrial tenures that could be permitted within
that zone.
There are several constraints and issues
affecting the drinking water supply area. The lack
of glaciers in its headwaters has meant that water
supply needs are met from annual surface flows
combined with groundwater discharge throughout
the eight major sub-basins in the 2,800 sq. km
watershed. This aspect of watershed hydrology
is particularly significant when analyzing the
historical flow records from the single permanent
hydrometric station on the lower Kiskatinaw River
at Farmington. When comparing two periods (e.g.
1966 to 1986, and 1986 to present),the more
recent analysis indicates a much greater degree
of variability to the hydrological regime (median,
mean and maximum flows), including earlier and
lower spring peak flows. According to the Forest
Practices Board (FPB), “Variability in the flow
regime will cause difficulties in managing the
abstraction of water by the City of Dawson Creek”
(Forest Practices Board, 2011).
Other related questions in understanding this
question pertain to regional and local climate
factors, and general climate change patterns
perhaps being exacerbated by landscape
modifications. Important information gaps
include the classification and extent of wetlands,
the delineation of aquifers and the direction
of groundwater flows in the upper watershed.
In addition to applied research, regular field
reconnaissance and contributions of local
knowledge help to build an understanding of
watershed change and patterns. Rural people,
for example, have long observed regular 10-year
cycles of drought and floods, and the effects of
the prevailing (‘snow-eater’) winds from the upper
elevations, with resulting decreases in available
farm water supplies from the reduced late-winter
snowpack. With recent assessments by the Ministry
of Forest lands and Natural Resource Operations,
it now appears that Mountain Pine Beetle (MPB)
infestations will also have impacts, as surveys
indicate two-thirds of the City’s drinking watershed
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