Penticton Creek: One section at a time

Work is scheduled to resume on the restoration of Penticton Creek later this week.

Work will take place during the fisheries window, starting July 28 and continuing from where work on the 2015 showcase project left off. This section of the project, covering about 80 metres, will complete the restoration between Ellis Street bridge and the Nanaimo Avenue bridge.

Related: Restoring Penticton Creek moves to next stage

“The city received positive feedback on the first section of this project, which tied together our community’s need for replacing important creek infrastructure while also supporting environmental efforts to return creeks and streams to a more natural state,” said Mayor Andrew Jakubeit.

There’s a lot of work to do to bring the creek back to a more natural state after being channelized half a century ago.

“This part of the project involves removing the old concrete surface, widening and deepening the channel to increase flow capacity and installing a rock liner to the channel,” said city engineer Ian Chapman. “The appearance will be similar to the previously completed phase.”

Work within the creek is scheduled to take place during the fish window that opens July 28 and closes August 24. Minor work may be undertaken in advance of the fish window and further work outside of the creek will continue into September. A temporary creek diversion pipe is ready to help facilitate the work

The $500,000 contract was awarded to H&M Excavating Ltd, a local contractor that was also the successful bidder on the previous phase. All work will proceed under the direction of Mould Engineering and Aarde Environmental in accordance with a permit issued under the water sustainability act.

Funding for the project comes from a number of sources, including the City of Penticton, the Recreational Fisheries Conservation Partnerships Program, Habitat Conservation Trust Fund and Freshwater Fisheries of British Columbia. Planting of trees along the creek bank is being undertaken with funding assistance from TD Tree Days.