Kamloops Lake

Kamloops Lake in British Columbia, Canada is situated on the Thompson River just west of Kamloops. The lake is 1.6 km wide, 29 km long, and up to 152 m deep. The community of Savona is located at the west end of the lake, with the city of Kamloops located a few miles east of the head of the lake at the confluence of the North and South Thompson Rivers.

The lake is bounded on all sides by steep embankments with level areas only near creek deltas and around the inlet and outlet. The surrounding land is mostly uninhabited and within the dry belt interior grasslands composed of bunchgrass and sagebrush with pockets of Douglas fir, Ponderosa pine and spruce. Kamloops Lake is also a widening and deepening of the Thompson River which enters at the east end and exits at the west end. The limnology of the lake is controlled by the Thompson River which has large fluctuations in annual flow with over 60% occurring in the early summer during freshet (May to July). Lake levels rise naturally as much as 30 feet (9.1 m) from high season in June to low season, and beach areas expand by as much as 200 feet (61 m) in the summer as lake levels recede after freshet.

Bulk residence times are very short (the time it takes for the water in the lake to be replaced with new water), ranging from 20 days to 340 days with a mean of 60 days. The water of Kamloops Lake meets or exceeds Canadian Drinking Water Standards. Because Kamloops Lake is fed by both the North Thompson River and the South Thompson River (the South Thompson River drains from the very warm Shuswap Lakes), Kamloops Lake is a very warm lake and is quickly becoming a popular boating and recreational area. On the north side of the lake is Fredrick and on the south side of the lake are residential subdivisions such as Cherry Creek and also the Tobiano resort community. A boat launch, trestle and gas dock has been built at Tobiano making it the only location on Kamloops Lake with these facilities. Boat launches also exist in Savona and Kamloops but their operational use is limited in the months of low water.