The 1987 Settlement Agreement established the NFCP Technical Committee’s responsibility in reaching decisions on the release of the Annual Water Allocation (AWA) from the Nechako Reservoir.
The AWA was specified in the Settlement Agreement to ensure a post-KCP minimum mean annual discharge of 19.4 m³/s at Skins Lake Spillway. Following KCP cancellation the flows have been maintained at a minimum mean annual release of 36.8 m³/s. During years when there is a large snowpack mean annual releases can be significantly greater than 36.8 m³/s.
The objective of the AWA is to allocate water flows to provide the greatest benefit for Nechako River Chinook. This is defined as a mean annual flow of 41.7 m³/s in the Nechako River below Cheslatta Falls measured near Bert Irvine’s Lodge (km 19) at the Water Survey of Canada’s Data Collection Platform Station 08JA017. Over time, the NFCP has developed a set of flow release schedules to optimize water releases via the Skins Lake Spillway.
The NFCP has concluded that the protocol for flow releases from the Skins Lake Spillway has been effective. The AWA releases through the spillway have consistently exceeded 36.8 m³/s annually over the duration of the NFCP.