Fears that Garibaldi at Squamish (GAS) will run dry created a triple-threat for the proposal this week, as organizations came forward with questions over the project's "inconsistencies."
The proposed Brohm Ridge four seasons ski and golf resort's environmental assessment phase took a hit as the District of Squamish, the provincial Environmental Assessment Office (EAO), and the Resort Municipality of Whistler stated they cannot support the project in its present state.
The reaction comes in the wake of unaddressed issues over water supply.
The project's water license approval would be based on a plan to extract water from two on-site tributaries to Brohm River, and District of Squamish director of community development Mick Gottardi stated the plan does not seem "viable" as it stands.
Project assessment director Graeme McLaren echoed the concerns in an Oct. 1 letter to GAS. Information gaps still exist despite a previous EAO process suspension that would allow proponents time to address the water access issues.
Inconsistencies in water storage estimates are explored in McLaren's letter.
"Given that the great majority of this demand water will need to be in storage at the end of the freshet period, it is clear that the capacity of the primary and upper (secondary) storage facilities is significantly less than the demand, regardless of what usage rate is used," states McLaren before pointing out the GAS application states the reservoirs will also be used to supply water for snowmaking.
Potable water is to be stored in the primary and secondary storage facilities, which are estimated to have a collective capacity of 220,000 cubic metres.
The application, however, also estimates the annual demand for potable water to be between 792,701 cubic metres (GAS conservation water use rates) and 2,035,755 cubic metres (SLRD water use rates), states McLaren.
McLaren pointed to other inconsistencies and requested a more comprehensive plan and a number of revisions.
The current plan would see the project extract and store water from the two tributaries during the freshet, or peak flow, period between May and July. Although the GAS application ensures there will be enough water and storage facilities available to cover demand, the district staff report questions the "assumptions" supporting the claim.
"The supply of water on that basis is unusual," Gottardi told council at the Tuesday (Oct. 6) meeting. "It's not necessarily not viable, but the data that supports the method of extracting the water is pretty limited at this time."
Gottardi's report explores supply and demand problems, and the fact that there is no contingency plan for water supply that would account for unexpected annual anomalies given that GAS does not propose to pre-develop groundwater sources.
Squamish council unanimously accepted Gottardi's report recommending that the district not support the water license application.
In a follow-up interview, Coun. Patricia Heintzman said sufficient water supply would have to be "dialled" before the project could ever go through. The large amount of water needed to keep irrigation flowing and snow machines pumping pose a significant obstacle.
"It's a fairly intensive water-consumptive proposition," she said. "Obviously they'd have to do every measure possible to mitigate consumption, but there are certain big ticket items like golf course irrigation and snow-making that it doesn't matter how many low-flow shower heads or dual flush toilets you put in."
Whistler's contention was made through Mayor Ken Melamed at last week's Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) convention and repeats his long held assertion that the project would mean loss for the resort, which already has an loose economic foothold in the area's struggling tourism industry.
