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A decision to decommission a British Columbia dam has observers wondering when - not if - other hydroelectric installations in Canada will be dismantled to provide free-flowing rivers for fish.
The agreement to remove the Theodosia River diversion dam 140 kilometres northwest of Vancouver is a first for Canada and one of only a few known cases in the world of a dam being decommissioned to restore fish habitat, notes Mark Angelo, spokesman for the Save the Theodosia Coalition and Rivers Chair of the Outdoor Recreation Council of B.C.
"The fact that we're willing to look at taking out dams that have outlived their usefulness sets an important precedent in Canada. Theodosia is the first, but I'm sure it won't be the last," says Angelo, whose organization is the lone Canadian member among nine international groups promoting local and global efforts to decommission dams and revive rivers.
Canada, the world's largest producer of hydroelectricity, generates two-thirds of its electric power from falling water, mostly from large-scale installations on major rivers in B.C., Manitoba, Quebec and Newfoundland.
The Theodosia River supported annual runs of 150,000-plus salmon before the diversion dam was built in 1955 to redirect 80 per cent of its flow to help power a pulp and paper mill. Since then, the number of salmon in the river has dropped to a few thousand.
The decision to remove the dam was reached in February between the B.C. government and the dam's owner, Pacifica Papers Inc. It provides for a committee of river users to decide the timing and scope of flow restoration, and compensation to Pacifica for lost generation.
About 65 per cent of the Powell River mill's energy requirements are met from the company's hydro and steam sources. The remaining 35 per cent is purchased at roughly 10 times the cost of self-generation. "The water was a real cost advantage for us," mill manager Miles Lauzon says.
- Canadian Geographic Magazine, May/June 2000
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