City of Parksville Water Supply
The City of Parksville is located in the heart of Oceanside, on the sheltered east coast of Vancouver Island. Parksville is an active community of retirees and families with young children who have chosen to live in Parksville for the quality of life and natural environment. Water supply issues including declining groundwater levels, contamination risks, and seasonal drought conditions have been exacerbated by a steady increase in population.
The need to provide an alternative healthy and sustainable drinking water supply has been apparent for more than twenty years. After spending millions of dollars on consultation, and planning. A plan to build a water system under a joint venture that was formed to secure a bulk water supply from the Englishman River called the Arrowsmith Water Service (AWS) and the Englishman River Water Service (ERWS).
Click on the headings below to take you to related subjects
Englishman River Water Service
Other Water Supply Options
New Water Treatment Plant Aquifer Storage
Arrowsmith Lake and Dam
Clay Banks
Troubled Water video Parksville segment is after minute 24
Drinking Water Supplies for the City of Parksville originate from wells and the Englishman River
The observation well within the well field area has declined to an unsustainable level.
To see current graphs and well data click the graphic below. There are two observation wells in Parksville,
wells number 304 and 398. There is more information about groundwater levels. See More
Current Intake
The picture below shows the pump-house for the current river intake, located at the end of Turner Rd. and across the river from Plummer Rd. This location is very low in the watershed and only a couple of meters above sea level.
Groundwater wells are located in the general area of the old rail yards, Buckerfields store and west below the inland highway to Springwood Park
The well field recharge or catchment zone is located on the south side of the city extending several square kilometers into Errington. The land uses in this area include industrial, mining, commercial and residential.
Romney and Carrey Creeks contribute to the groundwater recharge. Some of the wells are located very close to Romney Creek and should be considered under the influence of surface water.
The higher elevations are mostly privately owned forest lands. However, the lower elevations include multiple land uses that include potential water contamination risks. Until land use and zoning bylaws were introduced in 2002 there was little to no land use controls in most of the drinking water supply watershed.
Many activities continue in the lower water catchment area that increase the risk of water contamination.
The surface water catchment for the Englishman River drinking water supply extends over most of the 324 sq km of the watershed.
A proportion of the water supply is extracted directly from the Englishman River in the lowest elevations next to the estuary. The River intake is located at the end of Turner Road, across the river from Plummer road to San Pariel. The river water can only be used when the turbidity is low. Otherwise the only treatment to the water is disinfection with chlorine.
There are multiple contamination risk factors within the catchment zone, see video Troubled Water. The Parksville segment is after minute 24 of the video.
Go Directly to Englishman River Water Service Please click the drip
To see more about the New Proposed Water Treatment Plant. Click the Drip
One of the concerns about the location of the
new river intake is The Clay Bank Problem.
Click drip to see more
The Future of Parksville's Water Supply
Many options, to provide an expanded water supply to the Oceanside area have been suggested over the years and dozens of experienced individuals have offered alternatives. Oceanside and surrounding communities, area are in an ideal sustainable water supply location. Adequate amounts of high quality water could be available at low infrastructure and operating costs; with the potential to supplement the current systems under stress.
The two presentations below provide some alternatives:
City of Parksville Water Options April 2015
Click the image to open the PDF
Regional Water Supply Strategy
This presentation is from about four years old and gives some background to the proposed water supply issues.
Click the image to open the PDF