SPrKL's opposition to Tween Lakes Resort’s application to expand its marina.

FYI:

Tween Lakes Resort, located near the water intake at the  south end of Kalamalka Lake, has submitted an application to the Ministry of Land, Forests, and Natural Resources to expand their marina to up to 82 slips. The Society for the Protection of Kalamalka Lake (SPrKL) has registered its opposition to this application and has sent a copy of it to Richard Rolke at the The Morning Star. Please read the attachment above.

(Note: in the section quoting excerpt’s from Heather Larratt’s report, please keep scrolling down to see the second photo)

SPrKL is requesting help from the community to spread the word, and to encourage everyone who is concerned about the possibility of Ministry approval to register their comments on the website underlined below.

I have marked this email urgent because the deadline for comments is this Monday, August 3rd.!

Here is the Ministry WEB site for responding to the application:

http://www.arfd.gov.bc.ca/ApplicationPosting/viewpost.jsp?PostID=49256

Thank you for your attention  to this urgent matter!

Louise Christie

Director, SPrKL

"The Society for the Protection of Kalamalka Lake (SPrKL), would like to register our opposition to Tween Lakes Resort’s application to expand its marina.

First of all, please note that notice of the application for expansion of the marina was seen only in the Winfield Calendar – a minor publication, limited in scope. There was no information readily available to residents of Greater Vernon - nor to the best of our knowledge - to the District of Coldstream, City of Vernon, District of Lake Country or the North Okanagan Regional District.

Consequently, in fairness to all, the notice of Tween Lakes Resort’s application for marina expansion needs to be widely distributed, and the deadline of August 3rd for submission of comments to the Ministry of Lands, Forest and Natural Resources needs to be extended prior to the decision-making process.

Having said that, here in brief, are the reasons that we are opposed to approval of the marina expansion at the south end of Kalamalka Lake:

 Proximity of the proposed marina expansion to the Oyama domestic water intake
 Increased risk of pollution from leakage/spillage of oil, gas and sewage into Kalamalka and Wood Lakes, (Note: the two lakes are intrinsically linked by a short canal situated adjacent to the proposed marina site).
 Increased litter in both lakes
 Increased turbidity in the shallow site proposed, potentially endangering Kokanee spawning grounds
 Increased loud noise - engine/music/human – negatively impacting both residents and wildlife - especially water fowl
 Increased congestion in the area causing safety concerns
 Diminished water quality of both lakes.

Kalamalka Lake has been dubbed by National Geographic Magazine, one of the 10 most beautiful lakes in the world - but it is not “just a pretty jewel”. It is an underground spring-fed drinking water source for most of Greater Vernon and Oyama and should be treated as both a local and national treasure.

In these times of global climate change, unprecedented population increase and the accompanying threats to our water supply, particularly in the arid Okanagan Valley, we need to work together to protect this most precious resource. On behalf of the residents of Greater Vernon who drink Kalamalka Lake water and the fish and wildlife in and around the lake, The Society for the Protection of Kalamalka Lake urges your Ministry to honour future generations
by rejecting this application and protecting Kalamalka Lake for our children and those who follow.
In conclusion, we urge you to read Heather Larratt’s report commissioned by the District of Lake Country, “District of Lake Country Source to Tap Assessment of the South Kalamalka Lake Intake – July 2010”.

Link to Heather Larratt’s full report
 

The following are excerpts from the Larratt report:

Section on Moorage:
 

3.1.4 Moorage, Docks and Powerboat Recreation
Increasing boat traffic on Kalamalka Lake increases the contribution of PAHs including motor oil, gasoline and lubricants. Occasionally the boat traffic near the intake is intense during July and August. A liter of gasoline can contaminate 750,000 liters of water (Kerr Wood Leidel, 2008). Low viscosity fuels such as gasoline can spread rapidly and dispersion
is dependent upon temperature and turbulence. Evaporation is less effective on heavier PAHs but remains the single most important weathering process in the first few days following a spill that is not cleaned up appropriately.

Accidental spills during refueling are routine and PAHs accumulate in the sediments near docks, moorage, boat launches and marinas. Because Kalamalka Lake does not have a large public marina (there are 7 “marinas” with more than 6 boat slips on Kalamalka Lake), the risk presented by PAHs to the DLC intake is minimal. No moorage, marinas, boat launches or large dock facilities should ever be contemplated within the Intake Protection Zone. The risks presented by a marina on Wood or Kalamalka Lake must be weighed carefully against the benefits of such a project and include:

 Increased introduction of PAHs during normal motor operation and by accidental spills;
 Increased use of the lakes with boats equipped with on-board septic holding tanks (many of which can be opened at will and verified reports of human feces washed up on shore near houseboat moorage have occurred in the Okanagan);
 Seasonal pump-out stations at marinas can fail – for example the August 14, 2009 spill of raw sewage from the Westbank Yacht Club into Gellatly Bay, Okanagan Lake.

Lake Country may wish to consider encouraging non-motorized recreation by planning facilities that promote sailing, kayaking, canoeing, all of which have far less potential to impact intake water quality.

Location of the proposed protection zone (Larratt report):

Figure 2.15 Proposed DLC Kalamalka Lake Intake Protection Zone
 

Location of domestic water intake:
 

Figure 3.1 Features of the South Kalamalka Lake Basin"

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