Creeks and streams abound in the City of Abbotsford, as is evident on the attached
creeks and streams map. Most carry flows to the Fraser River, but some in the southwest corner of the City connect to the Nooksack River in the US.
Creeks and streams are watercourses and, in British Columbia, all watercourses are owned by the province. The use of water in them is governed by Water Rights legislation, administered by the Ministry of Environment. Any changes or modifications to watercourses require approval of provincial agencies, as well as Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
Creeks and streams are formed by natural processes that are affected by human influences. Forested land has a capacity to absorb rainfall, through evaporation, evapo-transpiration, and infiltration into the ground. When the rate of rainfall exceeds the absorption capacity of the land, the excess rainfall runs off in a downhill direction. As it progresses downhill, this “surface runoff” from adjacent lands merges together to create brooks, creeks, streams and rivers.
As development occurs near watercourses in the City of Abbotsford, the channels and adjacent riparian areas are generally left as is. Runoff from adjacent developed lands is normally piped underground and conveyed to the watercourses, through infrastructure designed to minimize the impacts. See Sustainability and Development for more information.