The bridge on Nanaimo Street is getting permanently removed in the early summertime as part of the restoration project on Penticton Creek.

(DAN WALTON / iNFOnews.ca)

Penticton Creek is being upgraded to replicate a more natural state.

In its actual natural state, the creek would regularly flood a portion of the city, so in the 1950s, it was channeled into a barren concrete shell. That successfully addressed the issue of flooding but at the expense of a prosperous habitat.

The City is about the break ground on the next phase of restoring the creek. The first two phases were completed in 2015 and 2018. 

Crews will be re-routing the water and then tearing up the old concrete bed. They’ll have a short window of opportunity to install a new floor that resembles a stream in nature, with rocks of all sizes creating steps, riffles and little cascades.

“As we gradually get more and more concrete out and rock and gravel in, the habitat becomes more inviting to the fish,” said Ian Chapman, the City's manager of special projects.

The difference these efforts make can be easily appreciated from the bridge on Nanaimo Street that goes over the creek. Looking downstream – where restoration work was completed a few years ago – it almost appears to be a creek in a pristine state as only natural elements can be seen. But upon closer inspection it’s apparent that the rock walls are shaped a little too perfectly.

Looking downstream from Nanaimo Street, this section of Penticton Creek where restoration work has already been completed is much more inviting for fish trying to spawn

(DAN WALTON / iNFOnews.ca)

“The rock we put in makes it easier for fish to swim between them,” he said. “There are no shallow layers of water that aren’t very helpful for fish – it’s a much more natural situation for them to swim up.”

Contrarily, when looking upstream – where restoration work has yet to start – the water streams through flat concrete where organic waste accumulates. 

A plain, concrete section of Penticton Creek that will be getting restored later in 2022

(DAN WALTON / iNFOnews.ca)

Current environmental regulations would not allow for a bare concrete channel to be constructed in B.C., Chapman said.

Kokanee and rainbow trout are the most popular kinds of fishes to be found in Penticton Creek.

But while restoring fish habitats is an important objective for the city, a more immediate concern was the deterioration of the concrete lining that has been getting weathered for the past seven decades.

“Once you get a small hole or crack, it can start deteriorating to the point that big chunks of it blow out,” Chapman said.

Concrete can break down because of frost damage, decades of growing trees, and some sections may have been built with thin layers. As non-stop water rushes past the cracks and holes in the concrete, the earth underneath gets washed away and erodes.

READ MORE: Funds secured for next stage of Penticton Creek restoration

A major reason why the entire project can’t happen all at once is because it comes with a $30 million price tag, he said.

Provincial and federal governments have chipped in some support, but “no way the government provides for that kind of funding.”

Another reason why the project takes time is because of environmental regulations requiring work to be done within the annual fish window, in order to minimize the impact on local fish populations.

“Basically you have four weeks in the late summer and that’s it,” he said. “Each year.”

Realistically, the city can only complete a few hundred meters of work within that time frame.

When the fish window closes, “the water has to be flowing again otherwise you’re in very deep trouble.”

But this year’s work will stretch over 300 meters – “substantially bigger” than the 150 to 160 metres section between Ellis Street to Nanaimo Avenue, he said.

Chapman said the creek historically experienced flows in the range of 20 to 22 cubic meters per second, and its new design is meant to accommodate up to 60 cubic meters per second, which will allow it to withstand a one-in-200 year storm event.

READ MORE: Next phase of Penticton Creek restoration set to get underway

While the ongoing restoration work takes the environment into much deeper consideration than the plan in the 1950s, Chapman admits that construction causes some short term damage.

“One downside to these projects, is when we tackle them we start out by taking away a whole lot of habitat. Unfortunately you can’t suspend trees in thin air while you dig out from underneath them.”

Many of the trees getting removed are struggling to survive anyway because their roots are growing through concrete, he said. And one of the final tasks is to replant the vegetation.

“People are quite shocked to see them go, but we need to take the trees down, it’s quite unavoidable.”

In addition to the removal of vegetation, part of the project includes the removal of the Nanaimo Street bridge in early July. The bridge is used often by vehicles and pedestrians. Council will consider replacing it with one exclusively for pedestrians and cyclists.

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