The Rain Gauge #24                                                                                                                        Chris Moss

We recently went on the CRD tour of the Sooke Lake Reservoir. It was the first of the season and the weather was perfect.  The story of the water supply is quite remarkable.  We were told that when the first European settlers came to look for a town site, they chose what is now the Victoria area as it seemed to have a variety of flora and fauna, good farm land, and a good harbour. What they didn’t realize at the time was the swings in local climate that gave them a wet winter and a very dry summer.

As the town grew the lack of water grew as well and the new town had to find a source of water or else move the town.  Elk Lake and Beaver Lake were the closest water supply, but they were not able to keep up with the growing city of 50,000 people and by 1914 another “final” supply had to be found.

In 1915 the Sooke Lake Water System was constructed, and a supply of fresh water was piped down beside the Sooke River and then into Victoria.  In 1970 the first reservoir expansion was built, decommissioning the original water main to Victoria and installing the Kapoor tunnel.  Remaining pipes were retained to service the town of Sooke.  

In 1975 the distribution system was expanded to the Saanich Peninsula which until that time depended mainly on groundwater wells.  Since 1975 the underground aquifer has been allowed to restore itself and is at a higher level now that well use has declined. The last reservoir expansion occurred in 2003 with a new dam and spillway which nearly doubled the size of the water reserve.

While all this information is interesting and while the Greater Victoria Drinking Water Supply System is the envy of the nation, it still has one fatal flaw.  It, like every other water system, is based on atmospheric precipitation for replenishment. Around here that means almost exclusively rainfall as climate change has all but eliminated the traditional snow pack. 

The Sooke Lake reservoir took a month longer than usual to fill up in 2025 following a drought through the winter.  Rain stats from the CRD Water Watch website show amounts and percentages of rainfall as – Jan 13% of normal; Feb 66% of normal; March 161% of normal; April 42% of normal.   This is happening to the ground water aquifers as well – each year starting a little bit lower that the previous year.  

Without the “atmospheric river” that came through in March the reservoir may not have filled up enough to meet this summer’s increase in usage, and we might have faced severe summer water restrictions for the CRD system.   

Water education and subsequent conservation has largely cut down on the water we use, but we still use far more per person per day than most countries in the world.  Our population has now caught up to the amount of available water. Conservation alone will not reduce the amount we continue to use. 

The CRD is prepared to drain the Leech River to provide water for its system.  Not only will this affect the downstream aquifers and rivers (Sooke River), but the new watershed will deliver more suspended solids to the water, so CRD is preparing a massive filtration plant project.

However, if the rains don’t come down it doesn’t really matter if the Leech River is used. Lower water levels and increased evaporation will certainly mean water restrictions to cut consumption. If we do not cut our consumption, then we may find ourselves in the same water shortage predicament as Victoria did in the early 1900’s with no water available to meet our needs.