Okanagan Lake evaporation factor

by Castanet Staff - Jul 27, 2011

The are many pressures put on Okanagan Lake on a daily basis. With so much demand on water supply, it's imperative to understand what is happening to the Okanagan's water resources.  As a part of this effort, the Okanagan Basin Water Board (OBWB) has partnered with Environment Canada for an important study to better understand what is happening to the water in Okanagan Lake. Beginning this week, the OBWB and Environment Canada launched three large yellow buoys on Okanagan Lake, each three metres tall by 1.8 metres wide, to monitor lake evaporation for at least the next three years. The final buoy was launched Wednesday morning.  This study comes as the result of work done on the comprehensive Okanagan Water Supply and Demand Study – a three-year, $3 million project that looked at the valley’s water supply, but found one piece of the puzzle missing: how much water is lost off Okanagan Lake through evaporation?  Initial estimates put lake evaporation at one metre per year. But the Okanagan is known to be a region with water supply challenges, and estimates aren’t good enough when effective water resource management is at stake.   By determining how much water is lost to evaporation, the Okanagan will be in a better position to plan for these challenges, including drought.
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 Another Don Quixote Parody:With Apologies to Stompin' Tom Connors ‘The Consumer’

Oh yes we are the Muni Taxpayer running in the race
Paying for the bureaucratic reports in the ol'  city-hall marketplace
Another report needed for something, we'll buy it while it's hot
The Politicians tell us we’ll Save a lot of money spending money we don't got,
We Save a lot of money spending money we don't got

The Muni Taxpayer they call us
We always get a fair shake
Roads that will have to diet and no rights to regulate our lake
We can't buy nothing lasting no matter who we choose
And any way you look at it you always seem to lose.

The Muni Taxpayer they call us
We're fussy about what we want them to make
We look at the price of hamburger but they bill us for T-bone Steak.
And all those fancy reports that gather dust upon the shelf
They're always full of Political dreams when they're full of nothing else

Oh yes we are the Muni Taxpayer running in the race
Paying for the bureaucratic reports in the ol'  city-hall marketplace
Another report needed for something, we'll buy it while it's hot
The Politicians tell us we’ll Save a lot of money spending money we don't got
We Save a lot of money spending money we don't got