High Water Advisory Back In Place For Puntledge River

While locals were able to get into the Puntledge River for a swim over the weekend, advisories are again in place to stay off the system, at least through to Friday.

The waters were opened up for swimming and tubing for a couple days, but because of the continuing higher levels of snowmelt entering the Comox Lake Reservoir, the advisory was put back in place yesterday.

BC Hydro’s Stephen Watson says since the beginning of the month, they have been releasing about three times the typical flow rate for this time of year below the Comox Dam.

The Comox Lake Reservoir generally operates between 131 metres above sea-level to about 135.3 metres, and is sitting around that usual high.

Precipitation for the month of May to date is 57% of normal, although due to the snowmelt, the water inflows into the reservoir for the month are about 166% of normal – one of the highest inflow rates for May in 60 years of record.