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The Kelowna Springs and Shadow Ridge golf courses are two of the best manicured wetland areas in the Okanagan Valley.
Kelowna Springs was built on swamp land and the designers have done an excellent job of flood and water management. This system is able to supports all sorts of species of animals. The swamp is fed from the Highway 97 ancient “river,” as well as tributaries from the lake chain along the ridge opposite Highway 97.
With the construction of buildings on the property, it will cause flooding from the underground flow from the streams and river channels being damned. That changed water flow will drive water to the surface, as a result of the necessary compaction to hold a structure.
If you review Google Maps, the area north of the Kelowna Springs and Shadow Ridge golf courses is the Kelowna airport. Any surface pooling or flooding will destabilize the soil under the airport’s runway. If you view the runway from the No. 3 tee box at Shadow Ridge golf course you will see the runway is already lower in the terminal area and raises at both ends.
There are also rolls in the surface from underground stream damage and settling.
If you need further evidence of these events, look a couple of miles west at the Glenmore Road ancient “river” bed that originates in Winfield. The Glenmore Landfill was built on a swamp, and there is now a large block of garbage and soil compressing the swamp soil and disrupting the underground rivers and streams.
As you follow the road north, you will see two alkaline lakes that now are at full pool year round. The one by the McKinley Beach turn off is approaching the level of the roadway. The water is backing up to the surface on a minor water flow of small streams. I have monitored it happening over the last 10 years.
Kelowna Springs has a huge volume of underground water flowing into the wetland area, so surface pooling will happen at a much quicker rate than at the Glenmore Landfill. The development of an industrial park on the golf course would be major expense to the city—rebuilding the airport’s runway.
Tom Bennett
