As it winds its way through the West Shore, on course for its mouth at Witty's Lagoon in Metchosin, Bilston Creek is flowing into troubled waters – in Langford.
Ongoing construction work to develop Centre Mountain has residents and ‘citizen scientists’ worried about the impact it could have on the creek’s ecosystem, which is home to an abundance of wildlife.
Concern has recently piqued with the digging of a trench at the intersection of Happy Valley Road and Wild Ridge Way, to be used for new drainage infrastructure that will allow storm water from the Centre Mountain development to flow directly into the creek.
According to Kym Hill, who has been involved with work to protect, restore and preserve the creek for over 30 years, the water will be treated with an “oil and grit separator” – information she obtained via a candid conversation with a construction worker at the site.
“Which is like 1950s technology,” she said. “That’s not what we do these days.”
Without proper treatment, Hill says the water quality of the creek will be at risk, affecting the thousands of species that call the creek home, including coastal cutthroat trout and water shrew, both considered to be ‘at risk’.
“It’s a pristine rearing area for our cutthroat trouts … a keystone species for the watershed,” she says.
Other locals are concerned too. One Metchosin resident who has so far endured five years of blasting living in the shadow of construction, says the recent development is another example of "developers who don't give a (damn) and regulators who don't care."
Over a year ago, they witnessed "sediment-laden water" being pumped directly into a tributary of the creek. They also say silt fences – temporary barriers used on construction sites to reduce the amount of sediment polluting water sources – were only installed "about a year ago."
"It's been going on for five years ... these are basic things that are just being neglected," they said.
The current work underway represents a string of broken promises for Hill, who says the city had made reassurances that the water quality and flow of Bilston Creek would mirror its pre-development condition.
“I’m extremely disappointed that it looks like … they’re not following up with that promise,” said Hill.
The possible increase in volume of the waterway, caused by the flow of storm water directly into the creek, also has folks downstream in Metchosin worried about potential flooding.
With the creek running through the middle of his property of 25 years, Wade Nikkels says he can remember two notable occasions the creek burst its banks and flooded his field.
“But I could see that happening with more and more frequency as they build more and more up there at Centre Mountain,” he said. “We're gonna be the ones that get the worst of it, there's no doubt about it.”
In response to the concerns, Langford’s director of engineering and public works Katelyn Balzer says protecting the environment while work is ongoing at Centre Mountain is of “utmost importance to the city.”
“This development utilizes a combination of infiltration, detention, flow control and treatment systems to ensure that the direction, quality, volume and velocity of storm water is equivalent to the pre-development condition, while accommodating climate change in accordance with best practices,” said Balzer in a written statement.
According to Balzer, professionals hired by the city ensure construction is done in accordance with the approved design, contract and all permit requirements – including municipal, regional, provincial, and federal.
This includes Section 11 of the Water Sustainability Act, which covers activities that modify streams, including discharging water. Balzer says this permission has been obtained by the city to complete the works flagged as a concern by Hill and other residents.
“We always obtain Section 11 authorization when working in or around creeks or water bodies protected by the province and we must meet their requirements when doing so,” she said.
This is not the first time Langford has come under fire because of a development’s impact on a nearby water source.
Since late 2023, locals have called for the city to take action to stop the flow of a pale yellow sediment into Langford Lake.
Identified as a by-product of rock and mineral stripping in an upland area under development, environmental experts said the sediment is ‘suffocating’ the lake’s bottom-dwelling invertebrates.
After initially standing by environmental consultants who told them removal of the sediment was not required, the city announced in March it would be seeking a second opinion from a geochemist.
Hill hopes the city will also rethink its stance on Bilston Creek.
She would rather a “true infiltration system” that duplicates how Centre Mountain’s wetlands – now depleted – would naturally filter the water, allowing it to percolate into the ground and slowly seep back into the creek.
“Despite everything that the city says about how they’re doing their best … and everything’s fine and dandy … meanwhile, back in the creek, we're losing,” she warns.
“And unless things are changed … we're going to continue losing and I think that’s intolerable and rather obscene, to tell you the truth.”
