Overcrowding and development could spell disaster for Osoyoos Lake
Osoyoos Lake was beautiful. Nice beaches, clean sand, good clear water, said Osoyoos Oxbow Restoration Society president and RDOS director Eike Scheffler, reminiscing back to the Osoyoos of the fifties and sixties.
Scheffler, who has also worked in the region as a biologist, sees the negative results of Osoyoos' population boom, development and associated recreational activities, and the effect this is having on our water system.
They're overcrowd-ing it, there's all these high density condos going up, and they still don't have sewer, said Scheffler.
There is a lack of surface water protection in British Columbia and water borne disease outbreaks in B.C. are already twice the rate of all other provinces in Canada.
The Okanagan River, of which Osoyoos Lake is Canada's southern-most end, was declared the most endangered river system in B.C. and the fifth most endangered waterway in Canada by the Outdoor Recreation Council's Endangered Rivers Committee.
Scheffler believes this should be an early warning signal to everyone in the Okanagan Valley.
Everything that comes down the river from Vernon settles out here in Osoyoos Lake, Scheffler explained.
Eventually we are going to be nothing but what they call a eutrophic, or stagnant pond.
It is fairly well documented that 60 per cent of our pollution comes down the valley due to the channelizing or straightening of the Okanagan River bed.rnTwo of the critical goals of the society are to rejuvenate the wetlands and reduce human encroachment upon the lakeshore.
In the late 1940s, after a flood of the Okanagan/ Similkameen rivers caused major devast-ation to the area, it was decided that by channelizing the rivers, the threat of future floods would be reduced.
B.C. panicked and they put in dams and control structures, said Scheffler.
The removal of the oxbows, or natural river meanders to straighten the entire Okanagan River was accomplished by the early 1950s.
This development did not go ahead, however, without objections.
A lot of the engineers were against it. And a lot of the fisheries were against it. The modern thinking is that they should have done exactly the opposite.
Oxbows in wetlands are more valuable in flood control, in ground water recharge, in stabilizing the system and in cleaning up the system.
They act as a sponge and a kidney. They sponge things up when there's a flood situation and they act as a kidney in biologically destroying toxins, heavy metals, phosphates, nitrates, etc.
Oxbows are the way to go if we want to start major quality improvement in this water system, said Scheffler.
The society already has funding from Regal Ridge, FortisBC, the Department of Highways and several private sources.
They formed as a non-profit society in July 2004 and have included all the major conservation groups that are interested, including O.I.B., the Okanagan Basin Water Board, the Desert Society, the Osoyoos Lake Water Quality Society and others.
Ours is an umbrella project, Scheffler explained, who went on to say that the initial goal is to create a test project to demonstrate to the public and the experts how the oxbow works.
They hope to focus first on the Quintal Oxbow, just north of Osoyoos Lake.
Their aim is for the project to have a broad scope, not to focus on any one issue such as birds, sockeye, milfoil control or riparian interest.
Although all these interests will be addressed in the Oxbow project, the bottom line is the improvement of the overall quality of the lower river and the basin.
Scheffler suggested one idea to raise money could be to have every major industry or developer pay a lake-related environmental levy.
We want to do this lean and mean and only spend money if we have a project, Scheffler said.
The first thing the society wants to do is start a one-year feasibility study this June to explore all the financial and environmental consider-ations and to determine what the priority projects are.
The society already has funding promised for the feasibilty study.
They hope to establish a private/pubic partnership to raise funds for their future projects.
As Osoyoos and the South Okanagan continues to grow in population, this long-term sustainability project is crucial, Scheffler believes, in order to save Osoyoos Lake and the entire British Columbia and Washington State Okanagan Basin for generations to come.
Tourism and clean economic development in a benign sunshine blessed climate are socio-economically exciting, but if we destroy the lake and healthy upstream wetlands it is not going to be just sockeye salmon that are going to become rare visitors to our valley, said Scheffler.
