What would you do about the toxic lake bottoms?

[stuphoto]

https://www.castanet.net/news/Vernon/32 ... pesticides

What would you like to see happen?
We obviously can't just remove the toxins overnight, and the story doesn't say if they will eventually disappear.

I would imagine putting in a boat speed restriction would reduce stirring things up, however I can't see it happening during my lifetime. Plus it still doesn't cure the problem.

[GordonH]

I wonder if that why Kal Lake doesn’t have the wide range of colours I remember as a kid.

[TylerM4]

I feel like this is one of those studies that was done to tell us what we already know. I mean, did anyone read anything that surprised them?

Some real eye-opening findings on this one such as

The boat impact study also found that boat propellers can stir up these sediments, re-suspending them in the water, where they can drift into drinking water intakes.

Who'd have thought!

Unfortunately, this doesn't surprise me coming from the OBWB. Their mantra is one of "Why improve our treatment facilities or build new reservoirs when we could simply ban people/boats/etc from the area?" Very apparent here their goal is to find boats at fault for water quality issues so they can move toward banning boats. Notice they didn't commission a study on options to better treat the water or a study to identify other water sources. Nope - It's a "Boat impact study".

[r u sure]

It really upsets me when these lower level of governments have the authority to throw taxpayer money at studies that are totally meaningless.
The Canadian Navigable Waters Act is specific in its requirements in the restrictions of motorized vessels.
There, just saved the taxpayers 250K.

[lcpp64]

That could affect waterfront RE Prices

If it is true, people are drinking toxic water from the lake.

[Ingevan22]

Unfortunately, this doesn't surprise me coming from the OBWB. Their mantra is one of "Why improve our treatment facilities or build new reservoirs when we could simply ban people/boats/etc from the area?" Very apparent here their goal is to find boats at fault for water quality issues so they can move toward banning boats. Notice they didn't commission a study on options to better treat the water or a study to identify other water sources. Nope - It's a "Boat impact study".

Tyler, you might want to visit the OBWB website to find out what their mantra actually is.

For example, the Okanagan Sustainable Water Strategy at https://www.obwb.ca/library/okanagan-su ... -strategy/ includes 50 actions "designed to protect water at its source, plan for flooding and drought, manage water demand, collect and share data, and collaborate and build partnerships."

[common_sense_guy]

The only thing I'd be interested in is actually seeing the results of the study and a breakdown of what is actually in the lake and at what levels. Seems like every time there's a situation like this all they do is come out and tell us it's bad instead of giving us complete information. And I'm not going to go digging for a half an hour to try and find the study results when the so-called journalist could have put a link to it in the story right from the start. Would have been nice to know also how much they paid to have the study done and who did it.

[TylerM4]

Tyler, you might want to visit the OBWB website to find out what their mantra actually is.

For example, the Okanagan Sustainable Water Strategy at https://www.obwb.ca/library/okanagan-su ... -strategy/ includes 50 actions "designed to protect water at its source, plan for flooding and drought, manage water demand, collect and share data, and collaborate and build partnerships."

That's their published goals sure. Unfortunately, their go-to tool for achieving goals associated with water quality is one of "Keep people away from water, stop people from using water, and keep people away from lands in reservoir catchment areas". I've seen very little effort put in place to look at other alternatives like improving water treatment technologies and finding new more appropriate water sources.

They follow this approach almost blindly - take for example their actions toward leased crown properties on reservoir lakes/catchment zones. So much money and effort wasted in a fruitless attempt to "kick people out". Water studies pointed very clearly to pollution from cattle being the #1 pollutant in the water - but instead of building fencing or improving treatment, they spend hundreds of thousands on lawsuits that were bound to fail. They even appealed it after badly losing the 1st court case and no surprise they lost again. That money would have been far better spent on things like fencing to keep cattle out, UV treatment tech added to water, etc. Long story short - they focused on what was proven to be a negligible source of pollution and wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars on lawsuits, etc instead of focusing on the main source of pollution where less expensive and guaranteed successful options were available to them. Why did they do that? It's because they value "Keep people away from the water" over everything else including common sense and professional recommendation.

[common_sense_guy]

I have emailed the so-called journalist that wrote the story and ask him for a link or any other information even or a name of who did the study. We'll see if he gets back to me. I also questioned how he could fact-check such a story when Council hasn't even received the study yet at the time of him writing the story. Oh what passes for journalism nowadays LOL

[Ingevan22]

Please do a bit more research about OBWB - cattle exclusion fencing is just one example of an OBWB-funded project.

Since 2006, the OBWB has awarded $4.75 million to 284 different Water Conservation & Quality Improvement projects in the Okanagan - https://www.obwb.ca/overview-grants/wcqi/

Links to the reports on the Kal Lake boat trials, sediment study and boat impact study can be found at the bottom of this page: http://www.rdno.ca/index.php/news/media ... nd-boats-s

[GordonH]

I’ve passed by Kal Lake my entire life, in that time the Lake of many colours isn’t that today. So something has caused those colours to disappear or be covered over. We know the Lake itself didn’t do it, so something else caused this to happen.

[dg3]

I wonder if that why Kal Lake doesn’t have the wide range of colours I remember as a kid.

because we have fewer sunny days than 30 years ago.

[TylerM4]

Please do a bit more research about OBWB - cattle exclusion fencing is just one example of an OBWB-funded project.

Since 2006, the OBWB has awarded $4.75 million to 284 different Water Conservation & Quality Improvement projects in the Okanagan - https://www.obwb.ca/overview-grants/wcqi/

Links to the reports on the Kal Lake boat trials, sediment study and boat impact study can be found at the bottom of this page: http://www.rdno.ca/index.php/news/media ... nd-boats-s

I'm aware of the fencing. I've seen it myself in a few locations. Are you under the impression that someone has claimed they don't do fencing?

What's the relevance on the information about Grant money they've handed out? Are you under the impression that someone has claimed that they do not support water quality improvement initiatives?

If this was aimed at me (I'm the only one who mentioned fencing after all) I encourage you to re-read my posts such that you actually understand my complaints about OBWB and how they operate.

[Brushy Bill]

I’ve passed by Kal Lake my entire life, in that time the Lake of many colours isn’t that today. So something has caused those colours to disappear or be covered over. We know the Lake itself didn’t do it, so something else caused this to happen.

Funny how perception changes with age...........ta dum tsss
Many times last summer the lake was in full colour display
but we should still ban the wakeboats and their awful music

[Ken7]

I’ve passed by Kal Lake my entire life, in that time the Lake of many colours isn’t that today. So something has caused those colours to disappear or be covered over. We know the Lake itself didn’t do it, so something else caused this to happen.

Likely the hole in the ozone layer or you need cataract surgery.

On a serious note, growing up with the North Saskatchewan river in my backyard. We had friends, some indiginous and some others who fished and ate the walleye out of the river. They were informed in the 80's there was mercury in the water and it was found in the fish.

Do not eat the fish was the report and everyone stopped fishing for food out of the NSR. It was about ten years and the next srudy came out. They agreed there was no change in the mercury levels, although you would need to eat ten pounds of fish a day to have any ill effects from it.

I sometimes feel it is the contract that needs to be filled and depending on who it is paid by will be the results. In about 2008 we had the most expensive test on lake Okanagan water done, cost over $700.00. The end result was the water has hardness in it. You can drink it as long as you are deep enough and have no ill effects.

I would be interested to know who and why they have completed this study.