SSI, CENTRAL Watersheds
"8344" (Erskine) Watershed Note -
- Rainbow Road west, Collins Road, Mt Erskine -
Last update 2022/05/05
SSI Central Area - overview watersheds (colour coded, CRD, 2018) & watershed note area
Central Island, "8344" (Erskine) watershed area
From our ongoing Central Island, Freshwater Cataloguing - notes on the "8344" (Erskine) watershed area. Cf. the SSI FWC webmap for field locations and charted information (where available).
The content of these "Notes" entries is dependant on the information that is currently available, from FWC volunteer work, FWC reporting or from other sources. We need volunteers in this area.
Note - if you have additional insights into this area (the watershed, it's creeks or wetlands), can help with site(s) access, or are interested in being involved in data collection for this project area, please contact the SSIFWC Project Lead.
For now these notes draw heavily extracts from our monthly FWC "Which Creek Is It" Competition, and from our Salt Spring Island FreshWater Catalogue Watershed Stewardship Group Facebook pages, with "field note" addendums where/if additional information has become available. Additional FWC volunteer resources for this 9194 watershed area will enable us to do more!
We have no regular FWC data collected from this "8344" watershed area (yet), and no name for this watershed, nor its creeks! A local volunteer effort may help establish any potential year-round flows(?) and establish freshwater chemistry baseline data. If both of these were available an analysis of watershed surface water might support 8344 area groundwater availability determinations; surface/ground water flow parameters are components of any planned watershed/areal water budget or water balance calibration work.
General Watershed & FWC Creek(s) Information:
The squarish, direct-storm "8344" watershed (no name, Erskine informally), drains the north and west corners of the Mount Erskine area. Direct to storm means that this watershed has multiple exit points with no single, monitor-able watrshed funnel site for freshwater measurements at or near the coast. The watershed has no known year-round surface flows.
Creek-to-be-named XXXIX is the single creek draining the 9194 watershed. Creek-to-be-named XXXIII was our April, 2022 Which Creek Is It (WCIT) competition entry, with the images taken from Collins Road (see SSIFWC webmap for location), and an earlier 2019/12 Creek-to-be-named XVI (Erskine East) competition entry .
The 8344 watershed has a local Mount Erskine waterworks district group, supporting a part of the Erskine area community.
Local watershed area maps and near-coast creek and upland images
"8344" (Erksine) Watershed & Creeks
The 8344 watershed is one of the “moderate-small” watersheds on the island, some 367 hectares (907 acres), similar in size to the Xwaaqw'um and Weston Creek watersheds.
The watershed receives something like 3,486,500,000 litres (921,036,000 gallons) of rainfall (or surface water) per annum
The watershed area has a relatively moderate groundwater well density with ca 160+ groundwater wells in total, with these around the fringes of a series of protected (AKA watershed recharge) areas around the Erskine peak.
Further work is required to ground-truth any 8344 creek seasonal(?) flow characteristics and associated surface/groundwater chemistries. Interested - contact the SSIFWC project lead.
Historical & Other Watershed Insights:
N/A
Note - any local insights, or interested in contributing to the historical/other notes on our islands' watersheds, please contact the SSIFWC Project Lead.
FWC "Citizen Science" Watershed Notes - Reporting:
There is insufficient FWC data to report-out on this 8344 watershed/creek area. The absence of any year-round surface flow across this relatively extensive 8344 watershed area is intriguing, perhaps an indication of the geo-mechanical properties of the sedimentary rocks (aquifers) underpinning this watershed area? Extensive fracture networks might be inferred by a large number of surface lineaments (geological faults/fracture systems?) visible on LIDAR...
The 8344 watershed is a great, and convenient, freshwater field mapping area candidate (for seasonal? flow and chemistry definition) within a populare walking area. If you are willing to help in this area, please contact the SSIFWC Project Lead if interested in being involved in this island watershed area.
FWC Images and Videos:
8344 watershed FWC field images. Note - all FreshWater Catalogue images & videos copywrite belongs with the WPS and the FWC. We are grateful for due acknowledgement of copywrite in any use or publication of these educational resources.
Other Local Area Resources:
N/A