Barb Haley, Watershed Watch Chair

My Observations
Date: October 02 & 03, 2024 @0900am
Area: Checking out where our water comes from
Temperature: 17C
Weather: Sun and clouds
Visibility: Perfect
Conditions: A perfect Fall day!
Observations: Always willing to check out places I’ve never been to!
Peachland’s Water….Is Our Glass Half Empty or Half Full?
About a week ago a few of your PWPA Chair Members took a concerning road trip into our watershed, we wanted to have a good look at the state of our water supply.
Do we really have enough water to supply our town’s growing needs as claimed by our Council Members?
A short drive above town might give anyone something to think about
Consider Dell’s pond (at the corner of Peachland Forest Service Road and Brenda Mines Road):

I can’t say that in my 15+ years in this area, have I ever seen this little pond look this sad.
We drove on and went up to Peachland Lake, our reservoir/water supply. Yes, some people think we get our water from THE lake….but it’s not the obvious, beautiful lake we look at everyday. Our water comes from quite a bit higher up. And THAT lake depends on the water feeding into it from even further above, the rain, the snowpack from over the seasons.
Peachland Water Sources
(www.peachland.ca)
BRENDA LAKE
Brenda Lake is located about 30 kilometres northwest of the town of Peachland up Princeton Avenue.
- Elevation 1,646 metres
- 22 hectares in size; depth six metres
- Stocked with rainbow trout. May ice over November to mid-May
GLEN LAKE
Glen Lake is approximately 1,144 elevation, 14 metres depth and 1.8 kilometres perimeter.
MCDONALD LAKE
McDonald Lake is a small, shallow lake northwest of the Brenda Mine. Lake water is slightly alkaline and relatively soft, with low levels of trace metals; sediments with elevated cadmium and copper, thought to be related to mineralization in the area.
- Elevation 4,150
- Approximately 109 hectares
- Its outlet is dammed and releases to lower Peachland Creek. Peachland Lake water is relatively soft, with low levels of trace metals. Two species of fish, rainbow trout and longnose suckers are in Peachland Lake. The lake is stocked each year with 3,000 yearling rainbow trout.
SILVER LAKE
Located 9 kilometres west of Peachland. The Silver Lake Forestry Centre was opened in 1971 and has been in continuous use since that Silver Lake Camp provides recreational and educational opportunities for children and adults.
SILVER LAKE DAM
Silver Lake Dam is located on the south east side of Silver Lake. The height of the dam is up to about 6 m and the width of the dam is about 30 m. The storage capacity of the lake is 456.06 acre foot (AF). The earth-filled dam was originally constructed during the mid 1920’s. Re-construction of the Silver Lake Dam was done in the fall of 1980. Silver Lake currently acts as emergency storage for the Trepanier Water Supply System.
Silver Lake is dammed on the southeast side and acts as emergency storage for the Trepanier Water Supply System. The height of the dam is up to about 6 metres and the width of the dam is about 30 metres. The storage capacity of the lake is 456.06 acre foot (AF). The earth-filled dam was originally constructed during the mid 1920’s. Re-construction of the Silver Lake Dam was done in the fall of 1980.
Emergency Water System – Okanagan Lake
Peachland’s emergency pumps are located at the north end of Beach Avenue and used during peak spring runoff. Water is pumped up from Okanagan Lake and chlorinated immediately for Trepanier Water Users. The Emergency system consists of 3 pumps: #1 and #2 are 250 HP and provide 1,200 GPM. #3 is 60 HP and provides 300 GPM. The large pump costs approximately $1,000 per week to run and is used during peak spring run-off mid-May to mid-June.
The District of Peachland does not have any operating wells.
CREEKS
Trepanier Creek
Trepanier Creek flows southeast into Okanagan Lake supplies all of the Trepanier area and downtown Peachland. It is abundant, high quality over-wintering fisheries habitat but very little by way of spawning habitat.
Greata Creek
Greata Creek flows east into Peachland Creek and has a drainage area of 40.7 km2
Deep Creek (Peachland Creek)
Deep Creek, also known as Peachland Creek, supplies all of the area south and west of downtown Peachland. It flows in a v-shaped valley with steeply sloping, forested sides. The creek falls from elevation 4,075 feet at Peachland Lake Dam, to elevation 1,123 feet at Okanagan Lake in a distance of 15.2 miles.
And from the Peachland Lake Reservior the water comes down to our new Water Treatment Plant via Peachland Creek and those that feed into it on the way down; Greata Creek (Glen Lake) and Mile Creek (Wilson Lake) and others:
Key Facts About Our Water Treatment Plant (www.peachland.ca)
- The Peachland Water Treatment Plant provides year-round, safe, clean drinking water for Peachland residents. The plant has a filtration component, eliminating water cloudiness, and disinfects water using both chlorine and ultra-violet (UV), both safe and highly efficient methods. As a result, regular annual boil water advisories are no longer be necessary.
- The plant replaced the previous, inefficient water distribution system involving three different systems, acquired by the District of Peachland in the 1980s, all of which were originally built to service the tree fruit industry, not a growing District. Now, one plant supplies clean water to Peachland residents from a single water source; Peachland Lake.
- The new Water Treatment Plant has been designed to service the planned future growth areas of Ponderosa-Pincushion and New Monaco. The new system will also ensure existing and future neighbourhoods experience adequate water pressure and fire flows.
How Does the Water Treatment Plant Work?
Step 1: Water is drawn from one water source; Peachland Lake.
Step 2: Water is transmitted to the Water Treatment Plant site.
Step 3: Via low lift pumps, lake water undergoes flocculation, clarification, filtration, and UV and chlorine disinfection.
Step 4: The clean, treated water is transported to an on-site reservoir where it is stored.
Step 5: Clean water is distributed to Peachland residents.
Here are some thoughts from Peachland’s Council about our water spply:
Council Highlights April 23, 2024
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE (www.peachland.ca)
Water Supply Workshop
Council was provided the opportunity to take a deep dive into Peachland’s water supply and its future resiliency in a workshop to discuss Peachland’s Water Supply Analysis Under Future Climate Assessment. The summary of the report’s findings are that Peachland’s Water Supply is reliable into the 2050s or 2060’s even with continued customary high-water usage, a sustained high-growth scenario and climate change effects. The projection of periodic water service shortfalls is made with no restrictions on current use and no new water supply introduced. Council discussed the need for a focus on water conservation and the potential for increasing water restrictions or water rate changes to help preserve Peachland’s water resources.
But did they really look?
We appear to be in a perpetual drought, now add to the fact that unnamed logging companies appear to have free rein within our watershed. Have a look around, and see for yourself the devastation of our forests and watershed….
Now, one needs to factor in how does the physical change of our Watershed’s landscape factor in to our drought-ness, the changes in temperature year-round, the scale and frequency of forest fires and the amount and quality of our water supply?

Then the day before, my doggo pack and I explored a part of Peachland Creek. As you can see from the above map, we entered from the hairpin on the Peachland FSR just after the Brenda Mines Road split.
We trekked upstream as far as we could, but the ground being so lush and overgrown, travel was challenging!
IMO, in the all mighty name of money, I think that promises are/were made, but no one actually follows up and holds anyone accountable for what they are doing or have done. So much of this has been going on for so long, with no repercussions, that it almost seems that anything we do now – is too little and/or too late? Maybe thats just how it feels.
Water is life
Communities need to understand where all this greed, devastion and disregard for how everything in the watersheds are interconnected, can affect our livelihood. If we don’t do something now, when the situation becomes even more desperate and dire, it may be too late.
Water is Life
This is what Peachland Watershed Protection Alliance stands for. For you, for our community, for our future, for our sustainablilty, for our water!
Forest today for water tomorrow! Water IS Life!