'Our house is basically a moat,' say residents near southern Interior lake pleading for district's help

For Debbie and Devon Nickle, it sounded like a dream come true: a house on a lakeand life in the country.

Twenty years later, the couple isfortifying their home at Stump Lakein B.C.'s southern Interior with thousands of sandbags from morning till night.

The idyllic lake that's usuallyabout a half a kilometre behind their homehas now surrounded their entire lot. About a foot of water has seeped into their crawlspace.

"I am in the middle of a lake," Devon said Friday on CBC's Daybreak Kamloops. "Ducks are swimming around and our house is basically a moat."

Residents around the lake, more than a half-hour drive south from Kamloops, are now pleading for the Thompson Nicola Regional District to stem the flooding by removinga century-old dam-like structure that has blocked the lake's outflow.

The district first wants to conduct a $50,000 studyto make sure opening the lake wouldn't harm downstream users, such as nearby ranchers and residents in Merritt, B.C.

Rising water levels

Michael Kidd, who built a home on the lake's north end three years ago, said the lake has risen by more than a metre each year.

Loggingactivity has reducedthe number of trees that can absorb moisture, whilesmoky summers have reduced evaporation, he said.

Until recently, building permits for the site were based on a high-water mark established by the district. That mark is now two-and-a-half metresunderwater.

"Everyone builtaccording to that high-water mark," Kidd said."The [district]doesn't want to take any responsibility for that. Each homeowner is on their own."

Now residents want the district to remove the outdated dam and let water drain in the fall, so that downstream users aren't affected in the summer.

Ron Storie, the district's director of community services, agrees that releasing the water in the fall is the right solution. But the lake would need a workingdam, rather than removing it entirely, to ensure the water safely flows downstream.

"You can't release water without controlling it somehow," he said.

Politicians 'need to fast-track this'

The regional district's position is thathomeowners would have to pay out of pocket for theoperation and maintenance ofa working dam if it were installed, Storie said.

He advised residents totalk to their MLA and local politicians.

"For anything else to happen here, it unfortunately becomes politicians who need to fast-track this."

That's little comfort for theNickles, whosay they've alreadyspent nearly $100,000 trying to save their home from flooding.

"If they let us flood out, all that money, which is our life savings, is in the lake," Devon said.