Colliery Dam Rebuttal To Citys' Claim

Blog reader addresses Colliery Dam Issue

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 The dams must be destroyed, an assertion, made by Mr. Kenning, Mr. Sims and Ms. Clift, made lightly, based on their speculation, their lack of experience, their lack of knowledge and information, and their far fetched conclusion that the removal of the dams is necesary to eliminate the risk of flooding in the Chase River. and there by reduces the risk of death and destruction in and on the flood plain below, due to a catastrophic event.
They contend that the dams do not slow the water down and do not reduce the flow rate of the water.
            
I contend that the existence of the dams provides a check to the water flow, and in the  event of flooding, slows the water down, there by slowing the flow rate of the river.

Removing the dams, would leave the river free flowing, leaving  the water unchecked and able to pick up speed,(from the top end of second dam, to the bottom of what is now the spillway, a distance of approximately, 1 1/2 k, with a drop of over 200 ft.) before crashing into the flood plain below.

Removing the dams , in no way, changes the amount of water reaching the flood plain during times of flood, it just changes the time it takes for the water to get there.

We have all witnessed rapids and the pools that form at their lower end. The dams currently act as those pools, a check to the waters flow.

The dams also act as sediment ponds, allowing the silt carried down during floods, to be filtered out before entering the fish rearing habitat of the Chase river.

In my youth, I belonged to the Boy Scouts. We use to go to the Nanaimo River and camp out, and as such, we spent a lot of time in the river. One of our favorite things to do, was riding the rapids, it was a lot like riding the water slides of to-day, just a little wilder.

We would jump in to the river at the top of the rapids, have a wild ride down, and at the bottom end of the rapids, we would be spit out and driven deep into the pools, bringing us to an abrupt stop, and then we were gently brought back to the surface, and carried further down the river at a much slower rate. This is exactly what happens to the water as well.

 If Ms. Clift or Mr. Sims had ever experienced this, they would not be trying to tell a country boy how water works.

When it comes to country, and nature, city slickers should do more listening and less talking.      

Respectfully,  Ronald Stead