There are ways to save the Salmon River and the Hopington aquifer, and the solutions can be found here in Langley, says Doug McFee of the Salmon River Enhancement Society. The volunteer group acts as stewards of one of B.C.’s most important salmon-bearing rivers.

McFee made the comment on June 19 when he and local well driller Jim Clark took a trio of Township council members on a tour of several local, uncapped wells.

Perhaps the most important of these was at Five Corners in Murrayville where a pump house covers an artesian well.

Clark told Mayor Rick Green and Councillors Charlie Fox and Kim Richter that the seemingly small flow of the well at Murrayville’s Five Corners actually amounts to 1.25 gallons per minute or about 670,000 gallons per year leaving the Hopington aquifer.

The Five Corners well once supplied water to the former Municipal Hall and Murrayville Elementary School. The structure around it was built to shelter an electric pump which was eventually shut off in 1982. Still collecting in a concrete overflow tank, the water was used by passing cattle and horses.

It is not the only uncapped well in Langley, but is a graphic demonstration of how water is not only wasted but impacts the Hopington aquifer which supplies water to hundreds of residences and businesses.

Aquifers are not only vital to residents living above them, they are the lifeblood of streams and support an abundance of wildlife. Occupying 40 square kilometres within the headwaters of the Salmon River, the Hopington aquifer is inextricably linked to the river’s health. Of the 700 km of fish-bearing streams in Langley, the Salmon River is considered the most important and productive for coho salmon.

The decline in the water level is one of the reasons why the Salmon River is on the list of the 10 most endangered rivers in B.C.

Seemingly defying gravity, water from the artesian well rises to the surface, through porous rock, without the use of a pump. The problem is that this cold, unfiltered water is not only draining the Hopington Aquifer, but it is being wasted, traveling into storm drains and eventually into the Fraser River and out to sea.

“There are hundreds of artesian wells constantly draining the west and north of the Hopington aquifer,” Clark said.

“This is a major part of the reason that the water table in the aquifer has been dropping a foot a year for 30 years.”

Clark estimates that the amount of water leaving the Hopington aquifer is 2,500 to 3,000 gallons per minute more than the amount of rainwater recharging the aquifer.

He pointed out that some of the artesian wells in Langley release more than 100 gallons per minute, and capping even one would save more than 52 million gallons per year.

“Capping artesian wells could be a big part of the solution to the dropping water table,” Clark said.

Township council members were joined by B.C. Ground Water Association executive directors Remi Allard, Bruce Ingimundson and Dave Mellis who were on hand to answer technical questions.

“We need to look at decreasing water usage and infiltrating more rainwater into the ground to recharge the water table,” McFee suggested.

“Incentive programs to encourage land owners are the way to go as there is still no provincial Ground Water Act,” he said, noting that B.C. is the only jurisdiction in North America that does not have legislation to protect ground water.

“With Langley in the forefront of water issues in B.C. largely because of the problems with the Hopington aquifer, if something is not done soon we could all end up looking bad as we have been talking about this issue for over 10 years but we have not acted to stop the decline,” McFee said.

“We don’t have much more time as the water table is dropping to the point that there is not much water in the river during dry summer months.”

The sheer volume of water coming out of the pipe at the Five Corners well surprised Green.

“It would be the same as leaving the garden hose on,” he said, calling the tour “a real eye-opener.”

“We have to take serious steps to deal with the whole uncontrolled well situation,” he said.

Green said that a first step would be to identify all the wells in Langley that are uncapped.

Councillor Fox shares the concern.

Last Monday, he introduced a notice of motion calling for staff to investigate “an implementation strategy to provide an incentive to encourage residents to cap unused wells.”

That motion will be on council’s July 6 agenda.