Vernon Matters file photo

By Liam Verster

Sewer System Protections

Flood mitigation work to help protect Vernon’s water reclamation system

Jul 15, 2025 | 10:39 AM

A project will be undertaken this summer to protect the facility that treats wastewater in Vernon.

At the Vernon City Council meeting Monday, July 14, city staff indicated it would be doing flood mitigation work to secure the Vernon Creek bank near the Vernon Water Reclamation Centre.

“This project is a continuation in a series of flood mitigation efforts identified in the 2023 VWRC Flood Hazard Assessment as part of the City’s flood mitigation work and efforts toward adaptation to changing climate,” the city staff report stated.

“It focuses on stabilizing the north bank of Vernon Creek adjacent to the Vernon Wastewater Reclamation Centre, where ongoing erosion has exposed an abandoned storm main.”

The work is scheduled to begin in the last week of July, and be completed by the end of November.

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Mayor Victor Cumming said the area where the work will be focused is behind a berm on the property on 25th Avenue, so it won’t be visible to the public, but noted this is a key project.

“That’s a place where the creek takes a bend, and it’s really important that we make both sides of that able to stand high water,” the mayor told Vernon Matters following Monday’s meeting.

“We do not want to have floods into our water treatment plant.”

The work, which will also include planting native species and the creation of a small floodplain to accomodate larger flows, is one of several flood mitigation projects the city is undertaking in Okanagan Landing area.

Those include the Vernon Creek Crossing project that wrapped up in December, as well as work at the crossing on Okanagan Landing Road near Marshall Fields and at Lakeshore Road near Lakeshore Park and Canoe and Kin Beach. The mayor said those projects will be scheduled at a later date.