Trashed RV leaking into reservoir feeding Black Mountain

Photo: Contributed

(Left) RV seen with front tire into James Lake. (Right) Apparent leak from RV into the lake. (Apr. 28, 2020)

UPDATE 8:30 p.m.

The Black Mountain Irrigation District (BMID) is advising customers that the RV unit found in James Lake Reservoir poses no risk to public health.

"James Lake Reservoir provides irrigation water to BMID agricultural customers in the Scotty Creek area only during the summer months," states Bob Hrasko, administrator at BMID in a release sent to Castanet. 

"During April and May, all irrigation water supplied to Scotty Creek is from groundwater wells."

Hrasko says BMID crews will be on-site to work with the Province in the clean-up process. 

"BMID also wishes to thank the anonymous person that reported the incident. We will be checking our trail cameras to determine if we have footage of how the RV arrived in the lake."

If you have any questions regarding the incident, contact the BMID office at (250) 765-5169 during normal working hours.

ORIGINAL 5:57 p.m.

An unusual sight at the James Lake Recreation Site east of Kelowna, where a resident found a trashed and dumped RV leaking into the waters. 

A Central Okanagan resident who wishes to remain anonymous reached out to Castanet sharing photos he took on Tuesday of an abandoned RV in the reservoir. 

“I just kind of walked up to see what the deal was with it and then I noticed there was the coloration in the lake which makes me think it was leaking,” explains the resident. 

He says it could be gas, oil or anti-freeze flowing into the edge of the lake.

James Lake supplies the Black Mountain Irrigation District.

He’s reported the incident to Conservation Officers and posted the images to the Okanagan Forest Task Force clean-up. 

Other residents have told him that the vehicle has been in the area since before the winter.

“Conservation tried to get out there to check it out, but they couldn’t because of the amount of snow.”

“The RV last week was up the hill, it was not in the lake — so in the last week or so it has been pushed into the lake.”

He says it’s hard to tell how the vehicle was pushed into the lake but noticed one of the back tires is flat “so it couldn’t have just rolled down the hill.” 

“It was obviously pushed by somebody… it’s hard to tell - I’m not sure if someone just pushed it by hand or used a vehicle.”

The tipster says there’s no licence plate and he says the vehicle in the picture is how he found it - with the doors propped open, the windshield busted open and the back gutted out.

The recreation site, like all in B.C., is currently closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.