I attended the all candidates meeting last night at the community hall and Mr. Haldane was responding to a question concerning traffic into and out of Sooke. He indicated that he could see no reason why an alternate route could not be constructed through the CRD Water Reserve lands. He also stated that the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) allows for the public to access their water containment area citing public and recreational use of Stave Lake.
As the former chairman of the Capital Regional Water Advisory Committee (CRD WAC) I strongly oppose this idea. Currently we have one of the purest water sources in Canada and maybe the world. Why would we jeopardize this precious commodity?
As stated by Mr. Haldane, Stave Lake is used for public recreation however; it is not part of the GVRD water source. The GVRD Water sources their water from the Capilano River, the Seymour River and the Coquitlam River Watersheds which are protected from public access. In fact, GVRD denied access to their protected watersheds to police, fire and first responders’ vehicles to their Indian River Watershed and the back route to Squamish.
The protection of our Sooke Watershed is essential for our health and well being.
Brian F. MacNeill
Sooke