Peachland needs water plan

Photo: Google Maps

Peachland needs a comprehensive watershed protection plan, residents were told at a meeting last week.

Nearly 100 people turned out to a town hall meeting held by the Peachland Watershed Protection Alliance.

The community is experiencing its fourth month of boil-water advisories, creek washouts, slides and devastating flood conditions.

Residents were told council is asking the four area logging companies to present their forest stewardship plans to City Hall.  

“We’re concerned that unrestricted logging, especially clearcut logging, is having a negative effect on our watershed’s health,” said Joe Klein, chair of the alliance. “We need to develop a plan to protect our jobs, our recreation, and our water quality."

Speakers at the meeting detailed how snow and precipitation on cleared lands (up to 72 per cent more than on a natural forest canopy) can lead to a 40 per cent greater/faster melt and runoff. In a steep watershed like Peachland’s, this can lead to severe erosion, sedimentation and flooding.

At the end of the meeting, residents requested a mapping of the municipality’s entire watershed, with all industrial logged areas, current cut blocks and planned clear cuts.