Osoyoos Lake Climate Change Vulnerability: Phase 2 – Merging Similkameen/ Okanagan Basin Hydrologic Models

As climate change influences the conditions in the Osoyoos Lake Basin, it is important for the International Osoyoos Lake Board of Control to better understand how hydrologic conditions resulting from future climate scenarios interact with the current lake-level rule curve and drought criteria declaration.  

This project seeks to integrate output from the recently developed Similkameen Basin Hydrologic Model with hydrologic and hydraulic models of Okanagan Basin and Okanagan River/Osoyoos Lake. The goal of this project is to be able to estimate the distribution of future levels of Osoyoos Lake during projected climate change scenarios in order for the Board to make better decisions and recommendations. 

This project is Phase 2 in a multi-phase project to analyze the vulnerability of Osoyoos Lake to climate change wherein Phase 1 resulted in the Similkameen Basin Hydrologic Model.