Steve is proud to call himself a born and raised Kelowna resident. “It’s the ‘four season playground’ aspect,” he says when asked what he loves about living here. “There is a window each spring where you can go skiing or snowboarding, play a round of golf, and finish off by waterskiing – all in one day.”

Steve is a street sweeper who has helped with the annual spring sweep program for years. As someone who has lived their whole life in the City, he says he takes a lot of pride in how it looks. “We’re keeping our city clean, presentable, attractive. Tourism is a huge part of our economy, and people really admire how clean our lake is, and that they can enjoy it and go swimming or boating. It’s a big part of what draws them here.”

Okanagan lake is not only a tourist destination, but a main source of Kelowna’s drinking water, and street sweepers play a huge role in protecting its health. The sweepers run along the roads and gutters and use big brushes to clean up sand, garbage and other debris off the asphalt to make sure they stay out of the stormwater system and - as a result - out of Okanagan Lake.

“I don’t think a lot of people know that our drinking water is really minimally treated,” muses Steve. “We have a lot of people who move here from other places where the water has to go through a huge filtration system. We kind of take it for granted that we’re incredibly lucky to have this really pristine water. That’s why what we do is so important – we’re being proactive and preventing dirt and other things from accumulating in our storm drains, clogging pipes and polluting the lake.”

Steve remembers a time when the stormwater system struggled to keep up; the 2018 flood, where a particularly warm spring resulted in a significant ice melt. The lake spilled its banks. “As a City employee, I was a part of the response. At the time, it was all over the news, but I think stormwater is an ‘out-of-sight, out-of-mind’ thing. If it’s not affecting people immediately, they might not think about it.”