By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
The Vaseux Lake Stewardship Association (VLSA) is conducting water testing on the lake over the next two years to ensure water quality meets Provincial standards for swimming.
The VLSA also noted that the testing enables it to confirm whether there is any seepage of septic systems into the lake.
The testing program has been enabled through grant funding of $6,000 from the Okanagan Basin Water Board (OBWB).
The VLSA started testing water in three locations: North, East and South of Vaseux Lake during the summer months (June to September) where the public usually swims.
The association said it will continue to monitor the quality of water entering the north end of Vaseux Lake every two months for the remainder of the year (October to May). Results of all water tests can be found on the Vaseuxlake.com website.
“We would like to thank the Okanagan Basin Water Board for their support, without which Vaseux Lake would not be in a position to ensure water quality in the lake meets Provincial standards for the public to enjoy,” the association said.
The name “vaseux” is French, meaning muddy or murky, which is descriptive of the lake’s silty water with the name likely given by French Canadian fur traders, the VLSA says on its website.
The lake was misspelled as Vasuix Lake on Joseph Trutch’s maps from 1866 and 1871 and for many years the name was later spelled Vaseaux Lake until 1945 when the Geographic Board of BC corrected the official name to its present form – Vaseux.
Both the north and south ends of the lake are shallow with an oval-shaped depression in the centre where the lake reaches its maximum depth of 27 metres (88.5 feet) according to the VLSA.
Vaseux Lake is also a designated Migratory Bird Sanctuary and California Bighorn Sheep sanctuaries lie on both sides of the freshwater lake.
For more information about the program email [email protected].
