Mussel expected to affect quality of Ver

Less sandy beaches a possibility thanks to new provincial regulations

Mar 13, 2019 | 3:46 PM

Some Vernon beaches are expected to be a lot less sandy in the coming years if the provincial government doesn’t issue a permit to allow the clearing of milfoil from the bottom of the lake.

James Littley of the Okanagan Basin Water Board says they have been trying to get a new permit from the provincial government since their permit expired in August, but after the provincial government discovered that parts of Kin Beach and Okanagan Lake contain the Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel, their permit has stalled.

“Not too much is known about this mussel but because there has not been many found they are treating it with caution and are treating it as at risk or endangered at this point,” said Littley.

He says that the provincial government wants to conduct research on the mussel and alleviate potential harms, like rototilling, which the water board uses to help cut milfoil from the lake.

“Basically anywhere where they have found live Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussels, or even shells or fragments they have told us not to go into for now.”

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Only one study has been done on the impacts of rototilling on mussels on Okanagan beaches but Littley says the study discovered less mussels after rototilling and some mussels with damaged shells.

‘A silky mucky mess’

The Okanagan Basin Water Board warns that without a permit to cut down on milfoil beach-goers will be affected.

“After a few years we would expect there to be really thick milfoil beds which means matted weeds on the surface that are very stringy and hard to swim through and tend to cause people to panic, but in the extreme long term when the milfoil is there year after year it starts to deteriorate to decompose and leave plant matter on the bottom and we turn from a nice sandy kind of bottom to a silky mucky mess.”

The regulations have already prevented the water board from clearing Kin Beach and a significant portion of Okanagan Lake.

The provincial government enacted new regulations in January 2018 and while the water board isn’t sure what the new regulations will mean in the future they say they will likely have to cut the milfoil below a certain depth.

“In the summertime what we may end up seeing if we have to stay below a certain depth is when you initially go to the beach you will have a few feet of clear water and then you will probably have a thick milfoil band out past your swimming depth perhaps 6 feet or nine feet and then it will get clear again because that’s where we can start again,” said Littley.

The Okanagan Basin Water Board has been engaging with the provincial government with how these new regulations are impacting the lake and says they are hoping to come to a resolution soon.