Water Quality

Environment

Watershed

Our main source of water in Kamloops is the South Thompson River. Our entire watershed is over 17,000 square kilometers in size, taking in the Shuswap Lakes, Adams Lake, Mabel Lake and Sugar Lake drainage areas. Snow and rain which falls in these areas runs overland, into streams and rivers and eventually into the South Thompson.

Our immediate watershed takes in the area between Kamloops and Chase, and all the tributary creeks which flow into the South Thompson between those points.

Because we do not have an isolated watershed, there are many activities taking place which affect our water quality. This section contains information about the effects of human habitation on the Thompson River system and the monitoring of water quality.

Activities in our Watershed
More and more people live, work and play in our watershed, and everything done in the watershed has an effect on our river system and on our drinking water quality.

Some of the common activities and their effects are:

Forestry
Stream sedimentation from road building and harvesting activities Machine activity near streams
Use of chemicals in intensive silviculture

Agriculture
Livestock feeding and movement in and around streams, raising turbidity
Potential source of cryptosporidium
Use of pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals

Mining
Road construction into new areas of exploration and development
Runoff from operating or closed mines
Water use in processing

Recreation
Road construction into recreational use areas
Exhaust, oil, gas and sewage from motorized boats and houseboats
Disruption to streams from off-road vehicles

Settlement
Point source pollution from sanitary sewers, storm sewers and industry
Non-point source pollution (NPSP) from roadways, parking lots and yards

Transportation
Run-off into water courses
Potential for accidental chemical spills from shipping along highways and railways

Logo Contact
Environmental Services
955 Concordia Way
Kamloops BC V2C 6V3
ph (250) 828 3757
fax (250) 828-3790
email ecoinfo@kamloops.ca

Note: All correspondence is entered into our system, and will be dealt with in due process. Please allow several working days for a response. Thank you.