Shuswap Falls Water Licence Renewal

The Shuswap Falls facilities are part of the Shuswap Falls and Sugar Lake Project. This project has five key components centered around two locations east of Vernon, B.C.:

• Wilsey Dam, Wilsey Headpond and Shuswap Falls Generating Station located at Shuswap Falls northeast of Lumby and about 35 km east of Vernon.
• Sugar Lake Dam and Sugar Lake Reservoir located north of Cherryville and about 70 km east of Vernon.

We have four existing water licences associated with the Sugar Lake and Shuswap Falls Project, one of which has an associated permit over Crown Land. Two of the licences are for water diversion and two for water storage.

Water diversion licences

• FWL120948 and FWL120950 allow us to divert water from Wilsey Headpond to Shuswap Falls Generating Station.
• These licences account for 32% and 68% of authorized diversion respectively.

Water storage licences

• FWL120949 allows us to store water in Wilsey Heapond.
• FWL120951 and associated PCL25334 allow us to store water in Sugar Lake Reservoir.
• These licences account for 100% of the headpond and reservoir storage.

We have applied to renew licences FWL120948 and FWL120949 as they both have an expiry date of December 31, 2018 (see note below). Our rights under the licences are protected until the Comptroller of Water Rights makes a decision regarding the renewal applications. The other two licences do not have an expiry date.

We are also asking that a permit over Crown Land be issued for the areas where our facilities are located on Crown Land (i.e., in the area of Wilsey Dam, including the dam footprint and spillway).

We're not asking for changes to the existing licence conditions or facility footprints as part of the renewals. We will continue to operate the facilities in accordance with our Water Licence conditions and Orders.

Note: In January 2020 we asked that the renewal application be placed on hold while the Wilsey Dam Fish Passage Project proceeded. Additional information is available on the Wilsey Dam Fish Passage Project page.

Read more about the Shuswap Falls water licence renewals [PDF, 703 KB].