According to an article this past week in the Coastal Reporter, Sechelt, B.C., Canada, the water level in Howe Sound Pulp and Paper’s Lake Seven is at historically low levels, according to Kraft Technical and Environmental Manager Brent Desrocher.

"We are evaluating it on a day to day basis. We anticipate that we have enough water to last into the fall when we would get a normal amount of rainfall," Desrocher said.

Lake Seven feeds the mill’s pulp and power operations. If the drought continues too far into the fall, Desrocher said it would impact mill operations, but he is currently not anticipating that. Environment Canada is forecasting periods of rain this weekend with showers continuing through next week.

"We’ve implemented water conservation measures where possible in the mill and we are closely monitoring daily usages in our process," Desrocher added. "We’re trying to maximize the use to better than normal."

"This mill has a good record of water usage but we’re really challenging ourselves on this now," he concluded.

Decreasing water in Lake Seven was cited as one of the reasons for the 171 job cuts on July 24 and the shutdown of the mill’s paper operations.