The results of the water samples taken from 6 sites on Gun Lake, Lac La Joie, Walker Creek and Penrose Creek on September 21, 2023 as provided by Cascade Environmental Resource Group Limited are attached and their provided comments:

Please find attached, a copy of the tabulated results of the water sampling program from September 2023, post wildfire. I have also included a map of the sample locations. As you can see, all samples fall within the national and provincial guidelines for drinking water and recreation use, except for:

Sample Site #1 – exceedance for Benzene and a recorded presence of Total Xylenes – These are the byproduct of burned fuels and could be associated with the wildfire. However it should be noted that only one sample exceeded the guidelines for drinking water for Benzene and the presence of Xylenes was not an exceedance.

All samples exceeded guidelines for total coliforms and Penrose Creek (PrC-08), Lac LaJoie (LL-07) and Walker Creek(WC-09) exceeded guidelines for E-coli and fecal coliforms.

A more detailed report will follow shortly.

We are all extremely concerned about the water quality of Gun Lake and Lac LaJoie and we appreciate your patience and understanding as we await the detailed reports. Cascade Environmental has been working as quickly as they can to provide the reports on top of their already committed workload as well as the Riparian assessments for private properties as a result of the wildfire.

The GLRA has not received any of the results directly from the lab and as such we are unable to provide the raw data. We have been instructed by Kandis Lispett, Senior Environmental Emergency Response Officer (Penticton) of the BC HAZ EMERG – Environmental Emergency Program, to work with Cascade Environmental and the Xwistin Band, from whom we await reports.

For additional information and questions, we direct you to contact Cascade Environmental:

Email: info@cerg.ca

Web: www.cerg.ca

The cost of this round of full spectrum and drinking water testing is in the range of$14,000.00. It is our understanding that these tests will need to be done 2 more times, once in the Spring of 2024 and again in the Fall of 2024, to monitor the potential for run off from wildfire affected properties and crown land. We will need total funding in the range of $42,000.00. At present we have requested and have been approved for $10,000.00 from the SLRD Area A Select funds.

The Gun Lake Ratepayers Association is a member funded non-profit association who relies on yearly memberships for much of our funding. If you have not renewed your 2023-24 membership, or are not yet a member, we urge you to do so by visiting our website at https://gunlakeratepayers.ca/membership/ or email us at gunlakeratepayers@gmail.com. Our membership numbers are now more important than ever as we are trying our best to represent the area by lobbying the government for assistance and applying for funding. Please consider supporting us!

Contributions to assist in paying for this water testing would also be welcomed. We are not a charity and are unable to provide tax receipts.

Thank you,

Gun Lake Ratepayers Association

gunlakeratepayers@gmail.com