More than 80 per cent of B.C.'s water basins are experiencing level 4 or 5 drought conditions, with salmon in many parts of the province struggling to make it to their spawning grounds.

British Columbia's prolonged drought risks damaging the salmon population for generations and has led to a series of emergency, rapidly deployed projects in an effort to intervene. In the Comox Valley, aerators have been installed in the Tsolum River to maximize salmon survival by increasing dissolved oxygen levels, and work has started at the mouth of the Tranquille River to re-establish water flow between the upper and lower sections so salmon can migrate upstream to their spawning grounds. More than 80 per cent of the province is at Level 4 or 5 drought conditions, the highest possible rankings, after months of little or no rain.

A volunteer program in Saanich, B.C., is helping to beat back invasive species on the island.

West Coast fish and forests are in greater peril than ever as the B.C. government issues widespread drought warnings after a record-breaking heat wave and an explosion of wildfires across the province.

A Vancouver Island watershed is experiencing such a severe drought the town of Lake Cowichan says it will start using pumps to keep the local river flowing.

Drought levels have been raised already for parts of the province and Dave Campbell, with the B.C. River Forecast Centre, says the current forecast points to drought conditions provincewide in the coming weeks.