Kelowna and West Kelowna Skip Indigenous-Led Okanagan Water Alliance

Nearly every municipality, regional district and First Nation across the Okanagan and Similkameen watersheds signed a syilx‑led memorandum of agreement to restore and protect water for the next seven generations. The agreement, backed by 19 leaders representing about 450,000 residents, created the Okanagan‑Similkameen Collaborative Leadership Table (CLT) and pledges a 250‑year water‑management plan consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action.

The two largest urban centres in the region – Kelowna and West Kelowna, with a combined population of roughly 210,000 – have not joined the effort. Kelowna holds about 150 water licences, while the cities of Vernon and Penticton together hold just under 50. The Okanagan Nation Alliance declared an emergency across six watersheds because of drought, declining fish stocks and growing water‑security threats. Interior Health has issued more than a thousand water‑system advisories in the last decade, including 412 in the Central Okanagan, half of which were boil‑water alerts. Mayors Tom Dyas and Gord Milsom have been absent from CLT meetings and the March water and climate forum attended by over 320 participants. “It takes everyone to be at the table,” a chief noted.