Drought reveals cracks in Canada-U.S. Columbia River Treaty as B.C. lake dries up

Victoria Youmans says she hasn't seen Arrow Lakes Reservoir looking so low in more than 20 years.

The resident of Nakusp on the shores of the reservoir in British Columbia's southern Interior says she's seen thousands of dead fish on the shore, and the receding waterline means boat access has been cut to waterfront properties. Instead of lapping waters, some homes now face an expanse of sucking quicksand.

Drought is part of the reason. But so too is the Columbia River Treaty with the United States that obligates B.C. to direct water from the reservoir across the border at American behest.

The grim scenes described by Youmans illustrate the stakes in ongoing talks between Canadian and U.S. negotiators to modernize the 62-year-old treaty, as the increased risk of extreme weather weighs on both sides. Part of the treaty that gives the United States direct control over a portion of the water in Arrow Lakes Reservoir and two other B.C. dams is set to expire in September 2024.

"I would say that when it was negotiated in 1961 and entered into force in 1964, it probably was one of the most important, if not the most important, water treaties in the world," said Nigel Bankes, professor emeritus at the University of Calgary's Faculty of Law, whose expertise includes the Columbia River Treaty.

"Its significance was really that it provided for the co-operative development of the Columbia River, the co-operative development of storage for flood control and power purposes, and for a sharing of the benefits associated with those developments."

The treaty was forged after catastrophic flooding of the Columbia River in 1948 destroyed the city of Vanport, Ore., near Portland.

It led to the creation of three dams in B.C. and a fourth in Montana in the Columbia's drainage basin, serving both flood control and hydropower generation.

But recent extreme weather such as this year's severe drought in B.C. has exposed problems in the agreement that residents of the Columbia River Basin say need to be urgently addressed.

The 230-kilometre-long Arrow Lakes Reservoir, made up of Upper Arrow Lake and Lower Arrow Lake, was created when the Hugh Keenleyside Dam was built in 1968 under the treaty.

The reservoir's water level had fallen to 423.7 metres above sea level on Tuesday — a low not reached in more than two decades.

Nakusp resident Youmans said what's even more concerning is that it's only October, and the lakes usually don't reach their lowest annual levels until late winter or early spring.

"I personally have never seen it this low, and I've lived here for over 20 years," said Youmans, who is among 3,900 members of a Facebook group that wants to "slow the flow of Arrow Lakes" to the United States.

She says the low water levels are hampering tourism and recreation on the lake, located about 600 km east of Vancouver.