Milfoil Treatment Update

The following is an update on getting Vaseux Lake added for the yearly treatment of milfoil by the Okanagan Basin Water Board (OBWB).

On Friday the 2nd of September, Terry Schafer and Tom Siddon our representatives with RDOS moved a motion that Vaseux Lake be added to the other 5 lakes to be treated yearly for Milfoil control. The motion past unanimously, I would like to thank both Terry and Tom for their support. The OBWB came to Vaseux Lake last Thursday the 1st of September and it was decided the Roto-tiller would have to be craned into the lake until a proper lake access could be built.

I will work with Tom Siddon and Terry Schafer our RDOS representatives to move this forward over the next year. The nest step will be the OBWB requesting a permit from the Ministry of Forest, Lands and Natural resources (MFLNS) and from Wildlife Canada. It is anticipated the whole process may take up to a year to finalize before we can start seeing the roto-tiller in our lake.

On another note, I have confirmed the RDOS purposefully did not buy the land required for secondary treatment of the effluents from the new OK Falls treatment plant to save money.

They initially asked Wildlife Canada for some of their land in the bird sanctuary and were turned down. I have been told the consequences of this decision of not moving forward with a secondary treatment has been pharmaceutical chemicals and extra nutrients have now entered our lake. I will be writing a letter to the RDOS on your behalf requesting why homeowners were not consulted on such an important decision and what exactly was the effluent that was put directly into our lake that should have been filtered out through the land.

I will also ask when it is anticipated the secondary treatment be put in place and I will ask it be completed as quickly as possible. I find this absolutely inexcusable that such a decision was made without any consultation with home owners or studies made relating to the consequences of allowing chemicals and extra nutrients into Vaseux Lake. I do not believe it is a coincidence that in the past 3 years we have seen a major increase in milfoil and algae blooms in this lake especially in the north end of the lake. I will send out the letter to everyone to review before I forward it to make sure it meets any questions or concerns you may have. I have already gone to the Oliver Chronicle outlining our displeasure.

I should also note we still have some residences on the south side of the lake using surface wells. When taking into consideration the extra chemicals and nutrients that have now entered into our lake for the past 3 years I will ask the government to test those surface wells to make sure the water is still drinkable.

Finally, I will start moving forward with the creation of the Vaseux Lake Homeowners Association since I have not received any negative feedback. I believe this is crucial for us to be better represented and informed relating to issues around Vaseux lake.

I will organize a meeting in late September once I know exactly what is required. I wanted to thank everyone for the support and kind emails that I received in the past few weeks. I am still missing several emails from the north east side of the lake. If you know of anyone that is not receiving these emails but are interested, please have them sent their contact information.

Thanks,
Norm