You are couple in retirement years.  You bought a lovely place in a fairly remote area west of Osoyoos.

Then the water began to show up. To move towards your property and then your outbuildings and finally to your road and foundations.

Local government response. Can’t really do much. It’s not a government managed lake – it’s yours.

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“For five weeks we have been trying to get help from any government agency for the lake on our property. Conifryd Lake is just west of Spotted Lake near Osoyoos. This lake has been rising, flooding our driveway, trees, a building and now our house is in danger as well.  We’ve been told that as the lake is on our property, it is our responsibility to deal with the water problem.  So far, nothing we have tried has had any effect.

No sand or sand bags here, but has been suggested.  Would need thousands at least 3 feet high and added to continually.   Water is running  down underground to the lake from surrounding hills and Mt. Kobau.  It is seeping up through the ground as well.   Sand bags won’t alleviate the problem here, water needs to drain from the lake as it continually rises all year long.

The part of our driveway that is parallel to Highway 3 has water coming in from the north. This seems to be coming under the highway. The visible base of our house has a four foot crawlspace under it, so the water level is getting very close to that. Water runs down the hill from the back and underground to the lake. The entire area appears to be saturated.”

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Photos  and comments submitted by Marie and Roger Richardson – west of Spotted Lake and Kilpoola

Top: 3 years ago

Bottom: Current situation