Sediment removal begins today at pond at Westside water plant

Intake-pond cleanup among 45 recovery projects that will cost total of $5.2 million

Work will start today on dredging excess sediment from the intake pond at West Kelowna’s water treatment plant.

The removal of rocks, silt and other debris is one of 45 recovery projects necessary in the wake of last spring’s flooding. Total costs are $5.2 million, with the city paying $1 million and the province covering the balance.

Flooding caused road pavement to buckle at nine locations, plugged 17 storm drains, damaged eight parks and crumpled retaining walls, city council heard this week.

The removal of debris from creeks is necessary both to protect the safety of bridges and to ensure the waterways can handle the surge of water during next year’s snowmelt, council heard.

“We are very concerned about the coming freshet,” said Stacey Harding, the city’s fleet and parks manager. “We have to dredge out material to make sure the creeks can handle the seasonal flow next spring.

“But we learned a few lessons last time, and I think our response would be improved if it happened again,” Harding said.

The timing of works around streams and the lakeshore is governed largely by Ministry of Environment regulations intended to protect fish populations and other environmental concerns.

There has been some public criticism of the ministry’s actions before flooding in May and June, with the suggestion being the level of Okanagan Lake was not drawn down swiftly enough to prepare for the freshet.

But West Kelowna Mayor Doug Findlater, who is on the Okanagan Basin Water Board’s governance committee, said lake management was complicated by unusual weather factors, including heavy late-winter rains and a sudden warm-up that accelerated the snowmelt.

“I don’t know what they could have done differently,” Findlater said.

He also paid tribute to the work of firefighters from the provincial forest service who were redeployed to help build flood defences.

“The provincial wildfire service people were amazing,” he said. “We could not have done what we did without those young bodies throwing sandbags around and building walls. They were an absolute godsend.”