Red beaches safe: city

UPDATE: 11:20 a.m.

The City of Kelowna says orange-tinged beaches along Okanagan Lake are due to a natural process and have been deemed safe.

An independent water test from Cedar Creek Beach on April 12 concluded the orange residue is caused by naturally occurring iron-related bacteria.

There is no risk to pets, people or wildlife, other than possibly staining clothing, the city says. The findings were also confirmed by the Ministry of Environment. 

The bacteria surfaced at Cedar Creek, Rotary Beach and Kinsmen beaches due to low lake levels and groundwater seeping to the surface.

“It’s likely that the work to mitigate flooding by proactively lowering lake levels is in large part the reason that this orange colouring has surfaced this spring,” says Blair Stewart, the city's parks services manager. “Once lake levels begin to rise, the colour will dissipate into the lake water again. Any residue remaining on the beaches will eventually dry out and may leave a rust-coloured coating on rocks in the area, but is not harmful.”     

UPDATE: 9:30 a.m.

Castanet has learned that the substance fouling Okanagan Lake beaches and shoreline is a result of iron bacteria, according to David Karn, Senior Public Affair Officer with the Environment & Climate Change Strategy Communications Office.

In an email sent to Castanet, Karn outlines the source of the problem:

• The redish-orange colour appearing on the rocks is a result of iron bacteria.
• This type of iron/bacteria precipitate happens frequently in the shallow water areas of local lakes.   
• Lake levels begin to drop this time of year (extremely low this year) and the snow melts off the foreshore, exposing the beaches.
• Sometimes there is also blue-green oil like streaking around the red precipitate that people assume is oil or gas dumped in the environment.  Most of the time it’s not, the streaks are actually natural oils from decaying plant material. The key observation is odour, or in this case, no odour (i.e. there is no gas odour present).

ORIGINAL: 5 a.m.

Oily water and rusty coloured rocks are appearing at several Kelowna beaches.

After the phenomenon was noticed at Cedar Creek Beach, at least two other beaches appear to be experiencing the same situation.

Similar conditions can be seen spanning the entire length of Rotary Beach Park and Kinsmen Park.

Kelowna resident Hartmut Witschen says he started noticing the discolouration about two weeks ago.

“It is everywhere, and it is smelling like sewage," he said.

A dog walker reached out to Castanet on Monday with concern about the Mars-like rocks at Cedar Creek.

Parks services manager Blair Stewart said the city was made aware of the other locations Thursday morning.

Water samples were taken from all locations, but Stewart said there is no risk to the public.

“We believe there has been a historical nature of this happening in the past… For us, this seems fairly natural that it is happening,” he said.

Test results are expected at the end of this week.