Kelowna resident James Anderson loves Redlich Pond so much that he made a video to help get his message across that, in his opinion, the picturesque pond is dying.
“Redlich Pond is now somewhat crippled and sickly,” Anderson said of the pond in Kelowna’s Glenmore area. “Sort of death by a 1,000 cuts.”
Anderson says the city is allowing storm water to be dumped into Redlich Pond, carrying with it all sorts of chemicals, including pesticides.
“Right below us is a 34-inch diameter steel intake pipe leading directly off the road,” said Anderson, “and it’s pretty hard to see because the water is so dirty.”
Anderson shot a video a little more than 10 years ago when he says the pond was teeming with wildlife.
“I took some wonderfully clear video back in 2007 and 2008 of this pond, which showed strikingly how much diversity this pond had at this time,” he said.
Anderson’s fight to save the pond has caught the attention of the Central Okanagan Naturalist Club. President Rick Gee says something needs to be done in order to figure out why it’s sick.
“We should find out what’s going on in the water to see if there is stuff in there that shouldn’t be there,” said Gee. “If there is, figure out how to stop it getting in.”
Global News contacted the city of Kelowna for comment. It says that the pond is what’s left of an old marsh and that it’s been a run-off pond for decades. The city says it monitors water quality and it’s within the acceptable range. It adds that the pond acts as a filter before storm water reaches Okanagan Lake.
But Anderson says all is not lost — that it’s not too late to save the pond and he’s looking to UBCO for a little guidance.
“UBCO has an excellent fresh water science program,” said Anderson, “and I’m hopeful we can get someone from UBCO to an in-depth study of this pond to see what it would take to rehab it. It could be again a beautiful pond and full of original wildlife.”
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