Farmers in Lake Country water less to speed repair

Damage to 2 water intakes used for irrigation among $1.7 million in work required in wake of spring flooding

Farmers in Lake Country helped the municipality deal with flood-related damage by reducing irrigation.

Water intakes on Oyama Creek and Upper Vernon Creek were nearly plugged with rocks and gravel washed down by heavy spring runoff.

The areas around the intake pipes normally have a water depth of about 1.5 metres. But so much extra debris accumulated at the height of the freshet that there was less than 30 centimetres of water near the pipes.

“The concrete infrastructure had shifted around quite a bit, and there was a whole ton of gravel in there,” Lake Country Mayor James Baker said Wednesday.

“We needed to get in there and repair it right away, so we asked the growers to really cut back on their water use while we did the work,” Baker said.

Damage to the two water intakes, used only for irrigation, has been repaired at a cost of $450,000, more than one-quarter of total expenses associated with cleaning up from the flooding.

Lake Country draws its drinking water from deep-level intakes in Okanagan Lake and Kalamalka Lake, which were unaffected by the flooding.

Council this week reviewed the cleanup projects, which cost a total of $1.7 million. The province will pay 80 per cent, with the town’s portion set at $339,999. The necessary money will come from existing reserves with no direct impact on taxes.

Money was also spent on repaving broken asphalt, repairing minor bridge damage, digging out culverts and removing debris wood from beaches.

Council also heard from staff that costs involved in fighting a major fire in Lake Country earlier this month totalled $150,000. It’s expected the province will pay about $40,000 of the costs.

“Someone said at council, ‘Well, we’ve had a big flood and a major fire. When are the locusts coming?’” Baker said.