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While a few businesses including, the Ogopogo Parasail boat, have been on the water working to keep its tourism business alive during a 'wake-free' season, the strong message from the City of Kelowna has been to maintain a wake-free lake until lake levels recede.
The rest of Kelowna residents have continued to maintain the wake-free Okanagan Lake until levels see a more significant drop and the City is saying that time is coming soon, but we're not there yet.
"We’ve been asking boaters to be respectful of public and private properties that are vulnerable to damage from waves on lakes that are at historically high water levels," stated Tom Wilson, communications manager for the City of Kelowna.
"We’ve been asking them to find zero-wake options to enjoy the lake, or to travel at low speeds to prevent wake waves from affecting people’s flood protection."
Wilson added that since the lake is still 70 centimetres above what's normal for this time of year, it will be many weeks before normal boating is possible.
"When Okanagan Lake gets below 343.0 level, the large bladder dams and gabion cages full of sand can be removed. But even then, it is not advised that boats travel at speeds that cause big wakes until the lake level is below what is called full-pool (342.48)," said Wilson.
But CORD Emergency, is saying there are still too many unknown variables before it can commit to a time frame of removing the flood barriers and when boating can start up again. A spokesperson for CORD Emergency said it is working on a recovery plan.
"They don't have those levels yet. They're continuing to work on determining what levels a bunch of things will be able to resume - boating on the lake, pump removals, protective measures - and that's part of the recovery planning that they're working on," said a spokesperson for CORD.
"As soon as we have it, we'll be able to provide it."
The Cook Road boat launch in Kelowna has reopened, while the Water Street boat launch and Sutherland Bay launch remain closed.
Stay tuned to KelownaNow for the latest updates.
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