Hey Okanagan! This is the grand finale of my Protecting Our Lakes series! Catch up on previous posts: Dec. 6 - homes, May 1 and 29 - properties, July 10 - waterfront care on my Facebook page and at ). Today, we're diving into lake recreation.
Enjoying our lakes by swimming, paddling, rowing, or sailing is wonderful and healthy! Slower touring and fishing boats are fine too, especially with electric motors (solar powered is best).
But here's the challenge: The rise of high-powered speed boats, wakeboard boats and jet skis are causing serious harm to our beautiful lakes. These watercraft zip around creating air and water pollution, burning fossil fuels, causing noise pollution that disturbs beach goers, cabin and property owners, waterfowl and other wildlife, stir up sediments, and erode waterfronts and riparian areas.
High-speed boating impacts:
鈥� Pollution: Fuel, oil, and exhaust contaminate water, harming wildlife and potentially human health.
鈥� Noise: Disrupts peace for people and wildlife.
鈥� Sediment disturbance: Lake bottom sediments accumulate pollutants and nutrients that are gradually buried. Boats that throw large wakes on shore, or have propeller thrust angled downward, disturb sediments and have the potential to re-mix those pollutants and nutrients back into the water (see: Kalamalka Lake - Boat Wake Impact Study)
鈥� Erosion: Powerful wakes cause more shoreline erosion than natural waves.
鈥� Wildlife Impact: Loons, grebes and other waterfowl nests can get flipped in the waves drowning the young and eggs.
鈥� Water Quality: Wakes can cause water intakes to get clogged with turbidity potentially creating costlier drinking water treatment, or required water advisories.
鈥� Safety Risks: Increased collisions with other boats, paddlers, swimmers, wildlife, etc. All powerboats must travel slowly through shallow areas less than eight metres deep.
鈥� Invasive Mussels: The ultimate threat! Transported by watercraft, motorized and non-motorized, fishing gear and more. Invasive mussels will cause massive ecological and economic damage and who will foot the bill? Their sharp shells can litter the beaches injuring swimmers and wildlife. They can destroy our endangered native mussel populations that don鈥檛 cause us any harm. There鈥檚 a provincial inspection and cleaning program at our borders hoping to prevent the invasive mussels from entering B.C. Learn more at dontmoveamussel.ca.
If any of you zip around like this, do you know how you鈥檙e affecting the lake environment and others enjoying the lake? Or do you care?
Our lakes are the heart of Okanagan tourism and our economy. Let's demand and practice responsible recreation. Let's show everyone how to enjoy our lakes while safeguarding their health and beauty.
- with resources from the Okanagan Basin Water Board
Roseanne Van Ee enthusiastically shares her knowledge of the outdoors to help readers experience and enjoy nature.
