Leaseholders of cabins and property along reservoir lakes in the Okanagan have been scrambling over recent weeks to try and obtain water rights.

Lake Country Mayor, James Baker, says many cottage owners presumed the right to divert water went hand-in-hand with the lease.

Not so says Baker.

"Nobody has a right without a permit. All the water is vested in the province, it's all recorded water," says Baker.

"You can divert unrecorded water and the only unrecorded water is groundwater, so you can drill a well and have water from there without a license."

Baker says any surface water in lakes, reservoirs or streams cannot be diverted without a license or permission from the area water manager.

He says cottage owners have been getting some inaccurate information.

"Sometimes the cottage owners don't always get the facts correct from the spokesman Mr. Manchester. One of the things he said was cabin owners have a right."

The water act is clear says Baker.

"You don't earn water rights by prescription either, that is, because you used it for a long time doesn't make it legal. There isn't a blanket right to use water just because you are near to it."

Baker says providing water licenses could cause problems downstream.

"A few buckets for people that use it in the summer probably doesn't diminish our supply, but at times Vernon Creek goes dry. There are other license holders on the creek. We had to release water because some of their rights to water supersedes ours."

He says there is also a concern with contaminants going back into the lakes.

"There was a letter written in 2003 when one of the lodges applied to divert water from the lake and it was turned down by our municipality because not only was it diverting considerable gallonage, it was then going back into the lake as gray water or black water. That is the problem anytime you put a septic field on a reservoir."

Baker adds a generic copy of a lease agreement he has does not say anything about water rights.

"I guess it was just the presumption of those that they could."

Link: Battle looming over reservoir lakes