Westwood Lake vs Colliery Park

If 'Public Safety' Is The Issue

How Long Before Westwood Lake Is 'Too Dangerous'?

The idea that Colliery Dams present such an urgent safety hazard seems to illuminate the inconsistency that this city council and city hall management consistently apply. Consistently inconsistent ......not a quality that breeds confidence.

Last October when it was announced that due to the dangerous condition of the dams and the immediate threat they presented to those downstream from the dams meant they would have to be removed at the earliest possible time. Removal was the only viable option as replacing them could cost as much as $30,000,000.00 we were told and there was a 40% chance they would fail in the next 50 years. We were told that removal and restoring the river was the cheapest option costing an estimated $7,000,000.00.

Since that original position of costing $30,000,000.00 and 40% chance of failure has now been discredited, the only position council and staff have to fall back to is one of public safety since their original claims of cost and danger no longer 'hold water'.

A serious problem with the logic which says the dams have to be drained immediately is the incredible view that only the 100 or so people living in the flood plain are in jeopardy when this catastrophe strikes. If Nanaimo is truly in such imminent danger what in the world is our council doing to mitigate against the other matters of public safety that surely must exist?

If this council is in possession of credible information that the dams in Harewood are in peril and can't possibly be left for even one more year, how does that impact the rest of Nanaimo?

Should we all be selling our homes (who would buy them?), and moving to much safer zones as clearly one would have to be foolhardy to remain here with such certain danger.