KAGAWONG—The company that operates the hydro generating station in Kagawong has been in compliance with the terms of their permit to take water out of Lake Kagawong, a representative with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) told the Recorder earlier this week.
As was reported in last week’s edition of the Recorder, already low water levels in Kagawong have been a concern for local residents for at least the past year. But recently the generating of power by the local hydro generating station (Sandpiper Kagawong Inc.) has, in the minds of several local residents, meant that the levels in Kagawong Lake were reduced to less than proper levels.
However, Steve Moggy, environmental officer with the MOECC out of the Sudbury district office told the Recorder on Tuesday, “they have a permit to take water. Under the ministry’s permit to take water issued to the operator (Sandpiper Kagawong Inc.) water levels on the lake must remain at a certain minimal level (surveyors measurement of 212.66 metres) before the operator is allowed to take any water for power generation.”
Mr. Moggy reported, “the ministry has been in touch with the company and can confirm that the operator had not taken any water for power generation since June 2016 because water levels have been below the minimum level of 212.66 metres. At the end of January, the operator restarted power generation activities as the water level had risen above the 212.66 (metres) minimum requirement.”
“The operator supplied their records to the ministry for review and we can confirm that the operator is in compliance with the terms of their permit to take water,” said Mr. Moggy. He added, “to answer your question from today about which days are used to assess compliance, this answer can be found under condition 4.3 of their permit to take water which states that Sunday and Thursday are the dates to be used every week, between 11 am and 1 pm. The company also has the option of reducing the rate of flow through their power house prior to taking the water level measurements.”
