Overview of the drainage and mosquitoes at the Island View flatlands
The flatlands at Island View are a mix of private lands; a Central Saanich municipal park, a regional district park (Island View Beach), and the Tsawout lands. They share very similar topography and so are discussed as one here.
The land is flat for its whole length with a slight higher rim around the shoreline, the result of wave and wind action. This rim, or berm, protects the flat lands from the sea except for occasional storms.
The land is flat for its whole length with a slight higher rim around the shoreline, the result of wave and wind action. This rim, or berm, protects the flat lands from the sea except for occasional storms.
During the First World War, between 1914-18, the military built a drainage ditch on the Tsawout lands to enable them to use the land for training.
In 1936, the District of Saanich (as it was then), with financial assistance from the Dominion Government of Canada, constructed a drainage system on the lands south of the Tsawout to control the mosquitoes "which were spreading to all parts of Saanich. In some sections it was almost impossible to get help to harvest crops, such as strawberries and loganberries, where a large amount of help is required, and even in harvesting grain crops. You could not venture into your field without being pestered to death, and livestock was being tortured unmercifully. .............. In a single year the control work has exterminated 90 per cent of the dreaded mosquitoes, and where land has been cultivated the extermination has been up to 100 per cent." See historical information on the 1936 drainage system here
To protect the flat lands from sea water entering up the ditch, a flapper gate was constructed on both the Tsawout and the Saanich ditches where they reached the shore. A flapper gate, in simple terms, is a metal plate, hinged at the top, that opens towards the sea. As the tide rises the pressure from the sea closes the flapper gate, and as it recedes the gate opens allowing the ditches to drain to the sea.
In 1936, the District of Saanich (as it was then), with financial assistance from the Dominion Government of Canada, constructed a drainage system on the lands south of the Tsawout to control the mosquitoes "which were spreading to all parts of Saanich. In some sections it was almost impossible to get help to harvest crops, such as strawberries and loganberries, where a large amount of help is required, and even in harvesting grain crops. You could not venture into your field without being pestered to death, and livestock was being tortured unmercifully. .............. In a single year the control work has exterminated 90 per cent of the dreaded mosquitoes, and where land has been cultivated the extermination has been up to 100 per cent." See historical information on the 1936 drainage system here
To protect the flat lands from sea water entering up the ditch, a flapper gate was constructed on both the Tsawout and the Saanich ditches where they reached the shore. A flapper gate, in simple terms, is a metal plate, hinged at the top, that opens towards the sea. As the tide rises the pressure from the sea closes the flapper gate, and as it recedes the gate opens allowing the ditches to drain to the sea.

This image has been rotated to fit the page. North is to the left. East is up.
Island View Beach Regional park is a watershed for areas outside the park boundaries - from Puckle Farm; Highcrest Terrace; Island View Beach Estates; Island View Road, and lands to the south. The park drainage system has a crucial role to reduce mosquito breeding areas and flooding both within the park and without.
In 1989 the CRD created a bylaw governing the CRD's park at Island View Beach. Recognizing the importance of the drainage ditches for mosquito control, the bylaw included these directions to CRD Park staff:
(i) The CRD parks Department will cooperate with the Municipality of Central Saanich in preparing a drainage plan for the park. The purpose of this plan is to identify ways of improving the drainage system for purposes of alleviating flooding of private lands and controlling mosquito breeding sites
(iii) The Regional Parks Department will keep all ditches in the park clear of debris. This will be included in the annual maintenance program.
CRD park staff however did not maintain the ditches, and over 20 years the ditches began collapsing and filling in. In 2011 a surveyor engaged by the CRD reported:
• Many sections of these ditches were overgrown in thick cover – these areas were not surveyed.
• All ditches contained sediments ranging from 10cms to as deep as 90cms
• the sediment was noted a standing water, mud, aquatic plants or often completely blocked
The drainage of Puckle Farm and residential properties on Highcrest Terrace is dependent on the CRD ditches, and as those CRD ditches became blocked through lack of maintenance, so Puckle Farm and the Highcrest Terrace properties became increasingly flooded and for longer periods of time.
At some point while this was happening, many years ago, the flapper gate on the Tsawout ditch became blocked in an open position. This went unnoticed until 2011 because it was on the sea side of a wall, and probably also, those who did see it did not realize its significance. The open flapper gate allowed sea water to flood 1km back up the Tsawout ditches where it flooded the Tsawout flatlands and also flooded Puckle Farm with sea water. Had CRD Park staff maintained the ditches as required by the CRD bylaw, this flooding of Puckle Farm from the Tsawout side would not have mattered because the sea water would then have drained out through the CRD ditches. But those CRD ditches were blocked, and Puckle Farm that had been fertile and productive became flooded with salt water for as long as 10 months in a year.
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Puckle Farm - July 3 2011 - approximately 15 acres under salt water. This became the main breeding ground for the summer salt marsh mosquitoes that swarmed the area as far away as the Pat Bay Highway. The salt water came from the Tsawout ditch because their flapper gate was blocked open for many years, and was unable to drain from Puckle Farm because of the blocked CRD ditches. Despite not being responsible for the problem, it was the District of Central Saanich that had to bear the significant cost of the BectoVac mosquito control program for this flooded area.
The unmaintained CRD ditches, and the open flapper gate of the Tsawout ditch, caused extensive salt water flooding on the Tsawout lands and Puckle Farm, and flooding of fresh water throughout the CRD park and residential properties on Highcrest Terrace. This flooding became the breeding ground for vast clouds of mosquitoes that swarmed for kilometers around, causing hardship for residents, farmers, and park visitors alike. By 2011, $55,000 of tax payer money was being spent every year on mosquito control with VectoBac between the Tsawout, Central Saanich and the CRD. The extent of the flooded lands was so great however, that even with this large annual expenditure, the mosquito control program was little more than a finger in the dike and the mosquitoes were unstoppable. To put this number of $55,000 into perspective, a quote was given to CRD parks from a reputable contractor, to clean the Park ditches twice a year for just $1,900 a year, for a three year term. CRD Parks did not follow up with this offer even though it was presented to them twice.
An irony about this man-made flooding, is that in the early 2000's it was mistaken as a natural salt marsh by
- the Ministry of the Environment doing a Terrestrial Ecosystem Mapping in 2008-9
- by the authors of the Cordova Conservation Strategy in 2010
- and by the Central Saanich OCP who designated the area as a sensitive aquatice zone
People saw what they wanted to see, and failed to investigate the reason for the salt water flooding. The clues were there but missed - the land had been farmed for 150 years, and the salt water was coming up within the confines of a straight man made made ditch, and not overland. But the reality is this was a man-made flood that went on for over 20 years before the open Tsawout flapper gate was discovered in 2011 and repairs made, and pressure was applied on the CRD to clean their ditches.
2011 - the turning point
In 2011 a group of residents, farmers and other organizations formed as the Island View Beach Ditch and Mosquito Committee. The group demanded that the CRD meet its duty under its own bylaw to clean the ditches, gathering 800 signatures on a public petition, and supported actively by Central Saanich Council. Eventually on September 21, 2011 the CRD Regional Parks Committee instructed CRD park staff to clean the ditches. By October 4, CRD Park staff had not undertaken the work and it was agreed that Central Saanich would clean the ditches on behalf of the CRD, and they did that in October 2011.
The immediate impact of cleaning the CRD ditches - no mosquitoes on Puckle Farm!
The CRD ditches were cleaned by Central Saanich in October 2011 and the results were immediately apparent in 2012. Puckle Farm had often been flooded with salt water until as late as September and was the principal breeding ground of the vicious summer salt marsh mosquito. Now with the ditches cleaned it was dry in April because could now drain and with that drainage there were no mosquito breeding sites. There have been no mosquitoes at all in the surrounding areas in the years that have followed since the ditches were cleaned, and the quantity of VectoBac applied on Puckle Farm has dropped to almost nothing.
There was an improvement on the Tsawout lands too because a repair was made to their flapper gate which, while not fixing it completely did reduce the volume of sea water coming up their ditch and there was less salt water flooding as a result.
There was no change on the CRD land because the ditches there have berms along their sides that prevent water in the fields from draining into the ditches, and staff did not remove, or allow others to remove, those berms for the fields to drain. These is indication some work may have been done in late 2013 that could change the situation in 2014.
Repairs to the Tsawout flapper gate 2012 & 2013
Repairs were undertaken on the Tsawout flapper gate in 2012 and 2013. The flapper gate is not fixed yet but the volume of sea water coming up the ditches has been reduced. Puckle Farm is no longer flooded with salt water, and the extent of the salt water flooding of the Tsawout flat lands has been reduced significantly. The benefits of this were dramatic, with the VectoBac use dropping by 75% even though the flapper gate is not completely fixed.
The VectoBac statistics 2010-2013
The 2013 report of the mosquito control contractor, D.R. Regan is here These are the applications of VectoBac over the last 4 years. The lower numbers indicate fewer mosquitoes found.
The numbers become easier to assess when graphed:
Public health
The D.R. Regan report draws attention to the public health risks posed by the mosquitoes at Island View, and with West Nile virus now present in BC this is no longer speculation. Constant vigilance is needed in the future, and better effort needs to be made by the CRD to maintain the drainage ditches and to drain the mosquito breeding areas in the CRD park.
Conclusion
Over many years, neglect by the CRD in the one case, and an unseen failure of the flapper gate on the Tsawout lands in the other, created flooding which lead to vast swarms of mosquitoes, causing widespread suffering to residents, farmers and other organizations around Island View Beach, and park visitors. Private property at Puckle Farm and Highcrest Terrace was damaged by the flooding. Large sums of public monies were spent on mosquito control over many years that would not have been needed had CRD Park staff abided by the CRD's own bylaw and maintained the drainage ditches.
The question must be asked and answered: How could such an explicit and unambiguous direction in the CRD park bylaw that "The Regional Parks Department will keep all ditches in the park clear of debris. This will be included in the annual maintenance program." be ignored with impunity by CRD park staff for over 20 years, and why the CRD Board, when they became aware of this, did not take immediate control of the situation. These two matters will be reviewed in other sections.
Money would also have been saved had the failure of the Tsawout flapper gate been seen, but given its out of sight location, that it is often under water, and that those who saw it may not have understood its important role, that is understandable. With the heightened awareness now, the flapper gate will likely be closely monitored in the future.
The experience has proved what everyone knew but some denied, that standing water breeds mosquitoes, and that large bodies of standing water breed uncontrollably large swarms of mosquitoes.
It has been shown that the Vectobac program alone cannot control mosquitoes in large bodies of water, and that the only successful mosquito control is drainage supplemented with Vectobac. This is also the least expensive.
The cost of maintaining the drainage system is minimal when done on a regular basis, and should be put out to contract.
Not only are mosquitoes a public nuisance, but with the arrival of West Nile virus in British Columbia mosquitoes must now be recognized as a threat to public health. Constant vigilance is needed to maintain the drainage system and prevent mosquito breeding sites.
As provided in the CRD park bylaw, the CRD Parks Department should cooperate with the District of Central Saanich to prepare a drainage plan for the park to identify ways of improving the drainage system for purposes of alleviating flooding of private lands and controlling mosquito breeding sites.
Th District of Central Saanich should offer assistance to the Tsawout First Nation for the periodic inspection and maintenance of their flapper gate.
The Central Saanich OCP should be amended to reflect this is not a sensitive aquatic zone, and that the flooding observed there over the last 20 years was a man made event, arising from the neglect of the CRD ditches and the failure of the Tsawout flapper gate.
The video below shows the sea water still coming through the Tsawout flapper gate on February 4, 2014, despite the repairs.