RDOS Approves Wetland Funds

The RDOS has finally approved $383,701 for the construction of the wetland adjacent to the Okanagan Falls Sewage Treatment Plant.

Effluent has been flowing unfiltered into Vaseux Lake since 2012 when the Okanagan Falls Sewage Treatment Plant was built.

The RDOS assured the VLSA that construction of the filtering wetland would begin in late 2017.

However, despite constant telephone calls, it wasn’t until this month that the RDOS finally allocated funds to the Wetlands Project. The VLSA credits Tom Siddon, former Area D director for going public when the RDOS was ready to reallocate funds already approved for the wetlands, to another project.

In the meantime, Vaseux Lake has been suffering the effects of taking unfiltered sewage, chemical inhibitors, and heavy metals into the lake, which might explain (in part) the huge increases in milfoil in 2015 and 2016.

Granted, we’re still waiting for the RDOS to approve getting a rototiller into the lake to mow down the milfoil.