Close the flood gates!

As of Wednesday August 2, 2017, it appears the mastermind managing the Okanagan Lake outflow at Penticton is still letting water out at 75 cubic meters per second (cms) (about 6.5 billion litres a day) despite the fact that we are now below full pool and in the middle of a drought and record heat wave with no end in sight. Evaporation alone is quickly lowering the lake faster than needed. The full pool level is actually perfect for the summer, and with no risk of it rising until next spring, it makes no sense to bring the lake down by leaving the flood gates wide open.

Back in the spring when it was becoming obvious that the snow pack and rain was going to create very high lake levels, I was equally surprised when the outflow was not significantly increased until the beginning of May and then finally opened up fully past the design limit of 60cms to around 80cms in June. Although flooding became inevitable we might have reduced it by a foot from from 2.5 feet it went over full pool.

Perhaps the province needs to organize a committee of experts to help make these educated decisions. From what I gather there is only one person responsible, and considering that this year's flood cost many tens of millions of dollars in private and public damage plus the massive influx of people and equipment needed, I think that a few more heads might mitigate future disasters.

Michael Neill