'A real pressure situation'

Several homes on Twin Lakes, south of Penticton, are being threatened by quickly rising waters.

Homeowners along the lakeside have been sandbagging for weeks, watching water swallow the road and put their septic system and drinking water at risk.

“It’s been a real pressure situation,” resident Craig Hunter said, who noted that the lake has been rising about 3-4 inches per day.

“Many of the homeowners don’t have flood insurance, which leaves us in a very precarious predicament,” he added.

The Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen is close to ordering a shutdown of the road’s septic lift station to prevent any possible pollution. An evacuation order could follow shortly after that.

Hunter, who has lived on the lake since 1988, is appealing on the provincial government to jump into action and allow barriers to be erected to slow the flow of water into the lake, and install additional pumping stations to pump water out of the damned and contained body of water.

He says he has tried to contact MLA Linda Larson for help, with no answer.

RDOS Area “D” Director Tom Siddon toured the area on Wednesday, meeting with residents.

Siddon called the Twin Lakes “unpredictable" adding, "in dry years they sometimes have drought, and the last few years they’ve had a lot of water to control.”

He said Hunter’s street is a bit of an early warning of what will happen to other homes around the lake if nothing gets done. At this point, flooding has been contained to the one street.

“We are trying to get some action in the next day or so, so it doesn’t become a serious issue, which could contaminate the lake.”

Much of the water flowing into the lake is coming from cattle grazing lands to the west. Siddon says it would be possible to slow the flow of the water, but it would back things up and flood those privately owned lands.

“So it's a matter of getting cooperation from other property owners,” Siddon said, adding that a plan to pump more water out of the lake is also being considered.

With temperatures set to reach the high 20’s this weekend, Hunter hopes they can get that cooperation soon.

“So we can have some concrete action in the very near term, we need it today, we don’t need it in a week’s time, we don’t have time,” Hunter said.