District of Clearwater is applying for funding to investigate installing a micro-hydro plant in its watershed.
Following a recommendation from its engineers, Urban Systems, town council approved asking Southern Interior Beetle Action Committee for funding to conduct a study during its May 17 meeting.
The District would like to put more reliance on its gravity-fed water system from the watershed, rather than use its wells, which require electricity to run, said Mayor John Harwood. The engineers had been looking at ways to divert more water into and came back with the observation that there might be enough water and enough vertical drop to make a micro-hydro plant feasible.
One of the critical factors that the study would address would be flow rates throughout the year, said Harwood.
Electricity from the plant could either be sold to B.C. Hydro or used by the District’s operations.
The mayor noted that about three years ago SIBAC ranked Clearwater and area as number five to receive assistance to mitigate the effects of the mountain pine beetle epidemic but that relatively little has been done about that since.