Improvements on tap for Greater Vernon water

by Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Vernon posted Nov 23, 2016 at 6:00 AM

Attempts to improve water quality are going farther into Kalamalka Lake. Greater Vernon Water is in the process this week of extending the Westkal Road intake by 78 metres. “It was one of the recommendations in our watershed assessment,” said Renee Clark, water quality manager. Once the project is completed, the intake will be about 300 metres long. On top of this, the pipe will be raised from its current 0.6 metres off of the bottom of the lake to three metres. “This will help improve water quality by not pulling sediments off of the bottom of the lake during storms,” said Clark. A chlorine line has also been added, but it may never be used. “If invasive mussels show up, you do spurts of chlorine to keep them from attaching to the screens and clogging infrastructure,” said Clark. The budget for the project is $341,000, and it could possibly delay the need for filtration on the Kalamalka Lake source.