Cheakamus system

Daisy Lake Dam impounds water flowing south from the headwaters of the Cheakamus River in Daisy Lake Reservoir for diversion through a tunnel that runs through Cloudburst Mountain to the Cheakamus Generating Station on the Squamish River. Water is released from the dam down a 26 kilometre stretch of Cheakamus River to its confluence with the Squamish River.

We work to upgrade and maintain existing assets like the facilities in the Cheakamus system so that our customers continue to receive reliable and clean electricity. There are currently a number of projects in the system including work at Daisy Lake Reservoir, penstocks and the Generating Station. Projects include:

• Replacement of turbine inlet valves – complete.
• Units 1 and 2 generator replacement – complete.
• Penstock recoating – The painting scope will be complete by the end of 2025, but demobilization may continue for a few months after that.
• Penstock detection installation – Upcoming.

The Water Use Plan (WUP) for the Cheakamus facility was completed in 2003 and was developed through a multi-year consultative process.

Refer to the Cheakamus Water Use Plan page to:

• Review the Water Use Plan and the Water Use Plan Order Review.
• Learn about the latest updates and what's coming next.
• Access relevant reports, presentations and more.

Following observations of higher than anticipated numbers of stranded juvenile salmon in August 2018, we committed to implementing the Cheakamus Adaptive Stranding Protocol (CASP) to study the effects of flow reductions on the Cheakamus River, and implement recommendations to mitigate impacts.

The study's objectives include:

• To better understand the risk of fish stranding on the Lower Cheakamus River,
• To test the effectiveness of different mitigation measures during those types of operations that may strand fish, and
• To identify effective fish stranding mitigation options for consideration for long-term implementation.

Since the implementation of the CASP in fall 2018, we've deployed fish monitoring crews on the Cheakamus River during planned flow reductions. Findings from the CASP have been reviewed as part of the Water Use Plan Order Review (WUPOR) and we are helping inform ongoing work to update the Water Use Plan. This work will consider how the findings can be incorporated into future water management practices and monitoring.

Read the CASP Year 1 Study [PDF, 4.3 MB].

Read the interim report.

The Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program (FWCP) is a partnership between BC Hydro, the Government of B.C., Fisheries and Oceans Canada, First Nations, and public stakeholders to conserve and enhance fish and wildlife impacted by the footprint of existing BC Hydro dams.

Since 1999 more than $3M has been spent on 41 projects in the Cheakamus River Watershed. This includes 30 projects related to fish.

Additional information about the FWCP

The FWCP is funded by BC Hydro and compensates for the historical impacts to fish, wildlife and their supporting habitats affected by generation facilities. In the past five years, the program has invested $1.1M in habitat-enhancing projects in the Cheakamus River Watershed.