{"id":2659,"date":"2023-03-20T08:26:35","date_gmt":"2023-03-20T15:26:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peachlandwpa.org\/?page_id=2659"},"modified":"2024-03-06T19:11:39","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T03:11:39","slug":"about-our-water","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/peachlandwpa.org\/about-our-water\/","title":{"rendered":"About Peachland’s Water"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Peachland’s water comes from the melting snow that collects in the mountains above the town. The snow melt funnels into lakes, which in turn have outflow creeks that eventually end up in Okanagan Lake. This drainage area is known as a watershed. It’s not a large area, it is sensitive to disturbances, and it is an ecosystem that provides many benefits including drinking water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But Peachland’s water is under threat – from numerous activities<\/a>,<\/mark><\/em><\/strong> but most of the damage is from clear-cut logging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is Peachland’s watershed showing the level of disturbance and ecosystem degradation due to clear-cut logging :<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Map of watershed showing areas that have been clear-cut logged<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Long ago in a watershed not so far away…<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The early settlers of Peachland knew that their growing community and lucrative businesses were dependent on reliable and clean water. So much so, that the watershed was designated a Community Watershed, which came with specific protection to conserve the sources of this water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The community watershed in Peachland was designated by the provincial government as a NO TIMBER SALES zone. Specifically because they knew that logging would harm the ability of the land to reliably provide clean water to Peachland residents and farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n

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This all changed in the 1970s but the exact date is obscure, as the decision to remove this protection was clandestine, and efforts to uncover the government’s process have been stymied. Filmmaker Will Koop’s documentary delves into the details of this perplexing and damaging government action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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