For five years, BC Works and the University of Northern British Columbia have worked in a close partnership to develop a better understanding of the impacts of climate change on the water security of the Nechako Watershed.
 
This program of research through the Senior Industrial Research Chair under the leadership of Environmental Science Professor Dr. Stephen Déry is equally supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and BC Works, with additional support from UNBC.
 
The research significantly improved hydrometeorological monitoring across the Nechako Watershed through a network of meteorological stations and water temperature sensors, expanded knowledge on the atmospheric river phenomenon and its influence on the hydrology of the Nechako Watershed, and developed naturalized and future projections of stream flows for the Nechako River and inflows to the Nechako Reservoir.
 
“The NSERC/Rio Tinto Industrial Research Chair in climate change and water security has generated fundamental, new knowledge on the Nechako Watershed’s response to climate change and other stressors,” Déry says. “This provides exceptionally valuable information for Rio Tinto’s management of water resources in the upper Nechako Watershed. This partnership therefore greatly facilitates the direct application of the research program’s findings into the day-to-day operations of Rio Tinto’s hydroelectric facilities that ultimately sustain the BC Works aluminum smelter in Kitimat.”