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Kelowna  

Turn on taps to lower lake?

As Okanagan Lake continues to rise, people are starting to talk about how to drain down the rising waters.

The lake level has been climbing about three centimetres a day, while the outflow dam at Penticton is only able to release about 1.5 cm a day.

As residents living along Okanagan Lake prepare for the worst, some are wondering if there's anything they can do to help.

Kevin Van Vliet is Kelowna's utility services manager. Surprisingly, he says he's only had one suggestion floated his way on how the lake level might be lowered.

"That had to do with irrigation," said Van Vliet.

Castanet received the same question from a reader wondering if the lake level could be lowered if water restrictions were suspended and water consumption rates temporarily waived. Could unlimited irrigation and sprinkling lower the lake?

Van Vliet says it's an interesting idea, but water taken from the lake, in the grand scheme of things, is irrelevant.

"If everybody waters like crazy, we would just increase runoff, and a lot of it ends up in the lake anyway," he said.

"With a hot weekend like this weekend, there will be evaporation coming off the lake that will far exceed the City of Kelowna's water use anyway."



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