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Watershed 3: French Creek

The French Creek Watershed area consists of steep forested headlands that drain from the edge of the Beaufort Mountains, 1080 meters above sea level, and the more gentle topography of the Nanaimo lowlands. It includes most of the communities of Parksville, Qualicum Beach, Coombs, Errington and other parts of Electoral Area F, and G. The lowlands are commonly used for farmland as well as residential and commercial development and transportation. Human activities such as water extraction and land development have greatly impacted this watershed.

Surface Water

This watershed area encompasses all the streams between the Englishman River to the south and the Qualicum River to the north that drain from the Beaufort Mountains into the Strait of Georgia. It includes Romney Creek, Carey Creek, Morningstar Creek, Beach Creek, French Creek and Grandon Creek. The largest body of water in this watershed area is Hamilton Marsh which drains into French Creek downstream of the Alberni Highway. Unlike other nearby watersheds, most of this watershed area is very low elevation resulting in naturally low summer flows. Human activities are responsible for less than adequate habitat conditions for the salmonids in this stream, and there is concern that excessive water extractions from the river and aquifers may be causing critically low summer water levels. French Creek is considered to be a sensitive stream under the Fisheries Protection Act, and the watershed is a designated community watershed. Pink, Chinook, Coho and Chum Salmon and Steelhead and Cutthroat Trout all live in French Creek, however, currently steelhead and sea run cutthroat populations are severely depressed.

Aquifers

This watershed area includes aquifers 212 and part of 220 217, 216, 663 and 227. Many of the aquifers in this watershed area are showing signs of stress. Aquifers 217, 216, and 220 all show long term declines in water levels. In this watershed, the surface water and groundwater are highly interconnected. In wet winter months, full streams replenish groundwater in aquifers. In dry summer months, when there is no rain, groundwater contributes base flow to local rivers. However, dropping groundwater levels may mean that less groundwater is available to supply the stream in the summer and low flows are even lower than they should be.

Watershed 3: French Creek