Okanagan Lake

Okanagan Lake is located in south-central British Columbia and is the largest of the five main interconnected lakes in the Okanagan Valley. Vernon Creek joins this lake to Kalmaka Lake, which is the main source of its water. Water empties out of the southern end of Lake Okanagan into the Okanagan River, which flows through into Lakes Skaha, Vaseaux and Osoyoos to join the Columbia River further south. Although the offshore regions of the lake are oligotrophic, the shallower parts have poor water circulation, higher nutrient levels and plankton blooms. The entire lake completely frozen 3 or 4 times in the past century and consequently is monomictic most years.

Altitude: 342 m above sea level
Surface Area: approximately 450 sq. km
Mean Depth: 76 m
Maximum Depth: 230 m
Volume: approximately 34 cu. km
Shoreline Length: 270 km
Drainage Basin: 6187.5 sq km

Reference:
Bryan, J.E. and E.V. Jensen. 1994. Okanagan Lake. In: Allan, R.J., M. Dickman, C.B. Gray, and V. Cromie (eds.). The Book of Canadian Lakes. Canadian Association on Water Quality, Burlington. Pp. 485-498.