Threats

The Lower Fraser River has been named among the most endangered rivers in British Columbia year after year for over two decades. The Outdoor Recreation Council that publishes an annual list of the most threatened rivers in the province highlighted a myriad of threats that are putting at risk one of the most productive river systems not only in BC, but the entire world. Amongst the growing threats are:

Toxic Oil Spills from the Kinder Morgan bitumen pipeline -The Texas-based corporation plans to triple the heavy oil flowing through the Valley from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels per day. A spill from a similar bitumen pipeline into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan devastated a community and cost over $1.2 billion. Read More.

The aggregate industry’s massive gravel extraction scheme – In 2006, gravel mining activity in the Fraser River killed 2 million pink salmon fry, one of the largest fish kills in Canadian history. A proposed aggregate extraction scheme would allocate huge areas of pristine land, including fragile strips of the Fraser river bed, for gravel mining. Read More.

Harm to rivers from private power diversions – Hundreds of proposed hydroelectric projects in the Valley could result in serious damage to fish and wildlife habitat.

Contamination from agricultural chemicals and polluted runoff – without good management, pesticides, heavy metals, and other chemicals flow into our rivers, lakes and groundwater from intensive agricultural operations and urban sprawl.

Massive groundwater withdrawals by companies like Nestle. BC was the last jurisdictions in North America to not have groundwater legislation, which meant a complete absence of monitoring of industrial uses to ensure adequate protections for groundwater sources and the streams, rivers and lakes that share flows with them. WaterWealth continues to play a leading role in bringing water law in BC into the 21st century.