SSI, CENTRAL Watersheds
"9117" (Reginald Hill) Watershed Note - W̱ENÁ¸NEĆ (Fulford Harbour)
- Morningside Road, Tsawout area, Fulford Harbour north side -
Last update 2022/03/08
Embedded Files
SSI South Area - overview watersheds (colour coded, CRD, 2018) & watershed note area
Central Island, "9117" Reginald Hill watershed area
Central Island, "9117" Reginald Hill watershed area
From our ongoing Central Island, Freshwater Cataloguing - notes on the "9117" 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 9117 watershed area will enable us to do more!
We have no regular FWC data collected from this W̱ENÁ¸NEĆ (Fulford Harbour) "9117" watershed area. A local volunteer effort would help establish any potential year-round flows(?) and establish chemistry baseline data, and (if these are present) an analysis of watershed surface water and groundwater baseflow(?) discharges to the sea. The latter surface/ground water flow parameters are components of any planned watershed/areal water budget or water balance calibration work, with potential uses for validating areal groundwater recharge potential models in this important Fulford Harbour (and community) watershed.
General Watershed & FWC Creek(s) Information:
General Watershed & FWC Creek(s) Information:
Within the 9117 (Reginald Hill) watershed a small number of poorly documented creek and wetland systems exist.
Creek-to-be-named XXXII, and its associated upstream wetland, are located in a largish, southwest Fulford Harbour, "9117" watershed, in an area just north of the Tsawout Nation woodland. Creek-to-be-named XXXII was our January, 2022 Which Creek Is It (WCIT) competition entry, with images taken from along the CRD walking trail on Reginald Hill.
A a further Creek-to-be-named X lies to east of the 9117 watershed, originating in the uplands area and reaching the sea along Bridgeman Road. Creek-to-be-named X has been scouted by the FWC "Team Stowell" (Stowell Yurt School).
The 9117 watershed appears to contain no(?) creek systems with perennial flow, despite being of a moderate area and with a significant, more elevated area (Reginald Hill) with the potential to act as "a water tower".
Close to the coast, the 9117 watershed contains the local Reginald Hill Water System (IT, 2019). This Reginald Hill groundwater abstraction system serves a community of around 20 households (Golder, 2019) from several drilled wells.
Local watershed area maps and creek images
"9117" Reginald Hill Watershed & Creeks
"9117" Reginald Hill Watershed & Creeks
The 9117 watershed is moderate in size, some 290 hectares (717 acres) in size (similar in size to the Xwaaqw'um watershed (CENTRAL/SOUTH island) and to that of Ganges Creek (CENTRAL island)
The 9117 watershed as defined receives something like 2,755,950,000 litres (727,991,000 gallons) of rainfall (precipitation, or surface water) per annum.
Creek-to-be-named XXXII - does not appear to have a surface creek outfall at the sea. The characteristics of the small, associated wetland, immediately upstream of Creek-to-be-named XXXII, suggests this wetland may be present year round, potentially supporting localised year-round XXXII creek flow (TBD), and providing a local 9117 aquifer recharge mechanism?
Creek-to-be-named X - limited field data is available for Creek-to-be-named X, seasonally this creek system discharges into a localised, narrow estuary, with mudflats. The Creek-to-be-named X outfall and associated estuary are close to those seen in the adjacent "Kingfisher Cove" where the coastal creek outfall, within the adjacent Monty Creek watershed is associated with Monty Creek.
The 9117 watershed has ca 50 subsurface wells, largely distributed close to or along the coast... Well positioning may be consistent with a dominant fracture network, and through-going surface freshwater drainage (groundwater recharge) in the uplands area. It is not clear if there is any local, surface creek, abstraction within the watershed area.
Further work is required to ground-truth the 9117 creek(s) distributions and seasonal(?) flow characteristics in this area of the island. Interested - contact the SSIFWC project lead.
Historical & Other Watershed Insights:
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:
FWC "Citizen Science" Watershed Notes - Reporting:
There is insufficient FWC data to report-out on this 9117 watershed/creek area.
The absence of 9117 watershed surface flow may be partly a function of the nature of the subsurface aquifers in this area (Salt Spring Intrusives and granodiorite, cf. Greenwood and Mihalynuk, 2009). Potentially heavily fractured hard rock aquifers in this area may faciliate fracture network drainage systems (and groundwater recharge) and reduce the tendency for surface freshwater systems.
The 9117 Watershed would make a great, and convenient, freshwater field mapping area candidate (with scope for seasonal creek and wetland systems monitoring and flow and chemistry definition)! Please contact the SSIFWC Project Lead if interested in being involved in this beautiful island watershed area.
FWC Images and Videos:
FWC Images and Videos:
9117 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:
Other Local Area Resources:
Want to know more about this watershed area(?), have a look at these local area references:
Greenwood, H. J., & Mihalynuk, M. G., 2009., BC Geological Survey, Open File 2009-11 Salt Spring Island Geology.
Islands Trust, 2019., Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee Official Community Plan, Bylaw No. 434, 2009, Schedule "A" Volume 1 Land use and Servicing Objectives.
Gorski, N. G., and Sacre, J. P. (Golder), 2019., Aquifer Mapping and Monthly Groundwater Budget Analysis for Aquifers on Salt Spring Island. BC Water Science Series WSS2019-01, Province of British Columbia.
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