KELOWNA – A public beach in Kelowna is getting a sandy make-over.
Last fall, sand was dredged from the Cook Street boat launch where it had built up and was heaving docks and causing other issues for boaters.
Now the problem sand is being put to good use.
It’s being trucked from the boat launch parking lot, where it was screened to remove unwanted material, to nearby Rotary Park beach which needs an infusion of sand.
“Mission Creek is the source of sand for all the beaches from Rotary beach all the way up to the Bennett bridge, and when man-made structures are placed into the water, the natural source gets cut off,” says City of Kelowna project manager Terry Barton. “In the 1960’s, there used to be a huge amount of beach at Rotary Park but it’s been actively eroding over the last 30 or 40 years.”
About 60 dump truck loads of sand are being used to expand the beach front.
“It looks really awesome, I think it looks great,” says Rotary Park visitor Dali Mwandacha. “They’re doing a lot of work out here.”
The restoration work should be finished within a couple weeks.
The cost of the sand removal and its replacement is about $60,000.
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