I watched the incredible Canada Day fireworks celebration at Kal Beach, whistling and hollering along with the crowd.
What a great display, culminating in a crescendo of explosive power that had us all thrilled.
It is therefore with some trepidation that I dare raise this issue that a lot of garbage is going into the our drinking water supply for a few minutes of wonder. The fireworks debris we collected in a few minutes, along a small portion of lakefront the morning after, was disturbing.
It felt like a hangover, not worth the fun of the night before. And this is just the pieces that we could reach. Mmuch more was visible on the shallow lake bottom.
How much more covers the north end of the lake?
About two thirds of the debris was paper and will bio-degrade with time, but the rest is plastic that will never disappear.
Between the annual Halloween fireworks and now Canada Day on the beach (rather than on land as in the past), we are polluting our drinking water source at an increasing rate.
So at the risk of being labelled a grumpy old man, I would at least like to get a discussion going among all of us who love Kalamalka Lake.
Paul Christie
Coldstream