The Coquitlam Lake reservoir lies within the Metro Vancouver Watershed, a protected area closed to the public, about 10 km north of Lougheed Highway in Coquitlam. The Coquitlam Dam, located at the southern end of the Coquitlam Lake reservoir, provides significant downstream flood control, and facilitates the regulation of inflows so that the Coquitlam River’s water can be allocated for power generation, domestic water supply, fish and wildlife habitat, and recreation. The reservoir supports a resident fish population, but there is no volitional upstream fish passage from the Coquitlam River downstream of the dam.

A new conservation sockeye hatchery will be built in the Coquitlam Watershed, at the base of the Coquitlam Dam to support the Kwikwetlem Sockeye Restoration Program (KSRP) 10-year plan. The hatchery is needed to increase the number of out-migrating Sockeye smolts to meet returning adult targets, to assess for ocean survival, and to collect morphometric data.