Water advocacy group urges preparedness, warns of drought in 2027

The regional water protection advocacy group is sounding the alarm about persistent drought conditions heading into next year.

The Okanagan Basin Water Board (OBWB) said four straight years of droughts and historically low precipitation in the winter and spring of 2026 culminated in some extremely low lake, streamflow and groundwater levels heading into the fall.

That included Kalamalka Lake dead pooling, meaning the water level fell so low it could not flow over the control structure and into Vernon Creek, Okanagan Lake’s level falling to a historic low, and many groundwater monitoring wells also reaching or nearing record lows.

The OBWB said any fall and winter precipitation could help conditions in the Okanagan, but also warned that “a single wet season is not able to undo the significant water deficit that has accumulated over several years.”