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Home › About us › Climate leadership › Environmental responsibility › Water Use Plans › Lower Mainland › Cheakamus

Cheakamus Water Use Plan

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

  • Executive summary [PDF, 240 KB] of Consultative Committee Report [PDF, 2.3 MB] provides an overview of the water use planning process and outcomes.
  • The Cheakamus Monitoring Program Synthesis Report [PDF, 4.4 MB] provides a summary of the studies undertaken for each Order.
  • Consultative Committee Report and draft Water Use Plan submitted to the Comptroller of Water Rights in October 2003.
  • The Water Use Plan [PDF, 866 KB] was accepted by the Comptroller of Water Rights and the Order was implemented in February 2006.
  • Fisheries and Oceans Canada issued a Fisheries Act Authorization for Cheakamus, with an expiry date tied to the review of the Order.

The final step is to review how things are going through a Water Use Plan Order Review (WUPOR).

Learn more about why we have Water Use Plans and the Order Review process.

What's new?

  • Engagement on the Cheakamus WUPOR – Fisheries Act authorization (FAA) renewal process has been ongoing since 2021.
  • An Order Review Advisory Committee (ORAC) was formed to support the process in 2022.
  • Since 2022, members of the ORAC have participated in facilitated meetings and Fish Technical Advisory Committee meetings to collaboratively develop a set of recommendations that will inform BC Hydro's application for an amended Water Use Plan (WUP) Order under the provincial Water Sustainability Act.

What's next?

  • The ORAC will develop recommendations for monitoring and mitigation activities.
  • BC Hydro will then prepare the application for an amended Water Use Plan Order that will be submitted to the Comptroller of Water Rights.
  • Once we have the recommendations, BC Hydro will communicate those out to public through delegation to the District of Squamish Council and the Squamish Lillooet Reginal District, website updates, media notifications, and open houses.
  • Engagement and input from the ORAC will continue during preparation of the application.
  • Upon receiving the application, the Comptroller will initiate their review process including consultation with First Nations and applicable stakeholders.
  • BC Hydro will prepare an application for an amended FAA following the WUPOR process.

Water Use Plan Order Review

The preliminary priority issues list for the Cheakamus Water Use Plan Order Review are the anticipated focus areas for the review.

They have been shared at public information sessions. View the June 1 presentation [PDF, 558 KB]. This meeting followed the information session held in February 2021. View the February presentation [PDF, 1.1 MB].

We'll provide more information as engagement progresses.

Annual Reports

 

Projects Studies Terms of Reference
CMSMON-1A Cheakamus River Juvenile Outmigrant Enumeration
CMSMON-1B Cheakamus River Chum Salmon Escapement Monitoring and Mainstem Spawning Groundwater Survey
CMSMON-2 Trout Abundance Monitor in Cheakamus River

CMSMON-3 Cheakamus River Steelhead Adult Abundance, Fry Emergence-Timing, and Juvenile Habitat Use Abundance Monitoring
CMSMON-4 Monitoring Stranding Downstream of Cheakamus Generating Station
CMSMON-5 Monitoring Stranding Downstream of Daisy Lake Dam
CMSMON-6 Monitoring Groundwater in Side Channels of the Cheakamus River
CMSMON-7 Cheakamus River Benthic Community Monitoring
CMSMON-8 Monitoring Channel Morphology in Cheakamus River
CMSMON-9 Cheakamus River Recreational Angling Access Monitoring