Okanagan Lake evaporation factor

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 and almost two 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.