Vaseux Lake Water Quality Test Results

In the spring of 2020, the Vaseux Lake Stewardship Association applied for a $6000.00 grant from the Okanagan Basin Water Board to conduct water quality analysis on Vaseux Lake over a two year period.

Our proposal was to sample monthly throughout the two year period and to send samples to CARO (a professional lab) in Kelowna for a complete water analysis quarterly.

The grant was approved, testing equipment was purchased and the monitoring has begun. We now have test results available starting in June 2020. The water test results are included in the following tables with explanations included below. Click here to see the full CARO Report.

Water Quality Test Results

Date	pH	Temp. (C)	Nitrate (mg/l)	Phosphate (mg/l)	Dissolved O2 (mg/l)
June 20/20	8.00	23	<1	.36	9
July 20	8.40	25	<1	.12	8
Aug 18	8.17	28	<0.01	<.005	7
Sept. 13	8.3	20	<1	.16	10
Oct. 22	8.4	12.0	2	.14	12
Nov. 23	8.07	8.0	<.01	.006	12
Dec. 22	8.2	5.0	<1	.12	13
Jan 27/21	8.3	4.0	<.01	.24	14
Feb. 23	8.1	5.0	< .01	.005	12
Mar 22	8.2	5.0	< .01	.04	10
April 27	8.0	11	<1	.02	11
May 25	8.16	14	< .01	<.005	11
June 27	8.1	23	<1	.08	9
July 28	8.6	26	<1	.24	10
Aug 24	8.34	25	< .01	< .005	7
Sept 21	8.4	17	2	.04	11
Oct 26	8.5	13	1	.08	9
Nov 17	7.97	8.0	.022	.0497	10
Dec 24	7.8	0	<1	.16	9
Jan 25/22	8.0	2.0	<1	.04	13
Feb 15	8.16	2.0	2.77	n/a	12
Mar 21	8.3	5.0	1	.04	13
Apr 21	8.3	9.0	1	0.4	12
May 16	7.48	9.0	0.024	0.0285	12
Jun 23	8.3	18.0	2	.04	9

Coliform Test Results

Date		North End	Campground Beach	East Shore	South Shore
Aug 18/20	Total Coliform	9800	7270	642	775
	E. Coli	5	28	3	4
Nov 23/20	Total Coliform	10,000+
	E. Coli	3
Feb 23/21	Total Coliform	20
	E. Coli	<10
May 25/21	Total Coliform	503	459		57
	E. Coli	17	10		1
July 18/21	E. Coli		110		12
Aug 24/21	Total Coliform	1300	2420		980
	E. Coli	10	3		1
Nov 17/21	Total Coliform	344
	E. Coli	6
Feb 15/22	Total Coliform	281
	E. Coli	8
May 15/22	Total Coliform	73
	E. Coli	19
Jun 23/22	E. Coli		48		152

We are particularly interested in monitoring nitrate and phosphate levels since they are nutrients that contribute to excessive plant growth. In addition, we monitor temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen.

Due to the heavy usage of the Vaseux Lake campground and the other populated shorelines during the summer, we are also testing for coliform bacteria during that period.

Coliforms are a group of bacteria that are almost everywhere, eg. soil, vegetation, sewage, manure, etc.

E. coli are bacteria that are commonly present in the intestinal tracts of warm-blooded animals and humans. Since E. coli is an indicator of fecal contamination of the recreational water, it is potentially disease-causing. It has been shown that there is a risk of contracting illness to swimmers when there is a high concentration of E. coli present within recreational waters.

The guidelines for Canadian Recreational Water Quality are in the summary table below.

Typically, when test results exceed 400 E. coli/ 100 ml in a single sample or 200 E. coli/ 100 ml in an average of a minimum of five samples, beaches in B.C. are posted with an advisory.