B.C. opens up Britannia Creek dams to reduce flood risk

The province of British Columbia announced on Tuesday that it has decommissioned two dams and partially decommissioned another, “eliminating some of the biggest flood risks in the Britannia Creek watershed.”

Crews have removed 10-metre-wide sections from both the Utopia Lake and Park Lane Dams, allowing the creek to flow freely along its natural creek bed, the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources said in a press release.

Crews also cut a four-metre wide, nine-metre-deep notch in Tunnel Dam, returning the creek to its natural elevation and reconnecting two fish habitats that have been separated for a century. Eventually, crews will widen the notch – to fully decomission the dam – or renovate the dam to create a debris barrier.

The ministry reported that crews will decomission the Mountain Lake dam next summer.

The province is currently consulting with stakeholders about the best course of action at the Mineral Creek, Lower and Thistle Creek dams.

The work on the dams is part of a plan to deal with the outdated and deteriorating dams on the historic mine site, the ministry reported in the statement. The dams, which were built over the last 100 years to supply power and water to the Britannia Mine, have been abandoned since the mine closed in 1974. The Britannia Mine, which opened in 1904, was once the largest copper mine in the country.