The flooding and high water hasn’t endangered Salmon Arm’s water supply, according to city officials.
Robert Niewenhuizen, the city’s director of engineering and public works, says because the city’s water is drawn from an intake deep in Shuswap Lake, it has not been affected. However, water is no longer being taken from the other source, the Medford Dam Reservoir. With the high runoff, turbidity levels there are too high.
At this point there is no risk of water reaching the pump stations at Canoe Beach, he said, noting that the pumps which feed the system are inside the water treatment plant building. If it did, sand bagging would be the next course of action.
As for the sewage treatment plant near Churches Thrift Shop, Niewenhuizen said it’s far enough inland it hasn’t been affected. Water has infiltrated the system in some spots, he said, “but we’ve dealt with that on a case-by-case basis.”