Low flows, high temperatures killing fish in Okanagan creeks

Low flows, high temperatures killing fish in Okanagan creeks

By Twila Amato

Source: pentictonwesternnews

8/7/2021

Credit: Okanagan Nation Alliance

Important creeks are a little too warm and a little too low for them to be healthy for fish.

That’s according to Okanagan Basin Water Board (OBWB) communications director Corinne Jackson.

The precipitation over the weekend didn’t make much of a difference, Jackson said.

“We were already in such a (water) deficit and we were already so dry due to the very hot temperatures and lack of precipitation, so it really didn’t make much of a difference,” she said.

“What we need, really, is a lot of precipitation to make up for our deficit and help the creeks.”

Jackson said there are a number of creeks that have been flagged as having low flows, including Shuttleworth, Vaseaux, and Nk’Mip Creeks in the south, Bessette Creek in the north, and Mission Creek in the Central Okanagan.