The History of the Williams Lake Dam, from the 1700s to 2016

The Williams Lake Dam and the Williams Lake Conservation Company

The structure of the Williams Lake dam dates back to the 1700’s. At that time it was used as a control for a wood conduit to the North West Arm for the forestry industry of the day in Mainland South. The Williams Lake Conservation Company was formed in 1968 at the suggestion of the Nova Scotia Water Resources Commission (WRC) “in order that the WRC might have a responsible body with which to deal over the reconstruction and maintenance of the dam at the outlet of William’s Lake.”

So the Williams Lake Conservation Company and the history of the dam are closely linked. Read the history of the Williams Lake dam from its beginnings below or download from this link: The History of the Williams Lake Dam, from the 1700s to 2016.

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In November 2020, Dr. Melanie Dobson, on behalf of the WLCC, undertook an investigation to establish where water routes might have changed and what sources of water remain to feed the lake. Below is Dr. Dobson’s summary of her work. The summary helps us to understand the impact of development with unconstrained changes to the water sources for Williams Lake. [To download a copy of the PDF click here]

WLCC-Water-Flow-Report-Nov-2020

Here is a Summary of Dam Issues from 1968 to 2005. Read below or download with this link: WLCC Summary of Dam Issues 1968-2005

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Here is an engineering evaluation of the Dam done in 2005. Read below or download with this link: Williams Lake Dam Evaluation, 2005

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