Kamloops decommissions farm irrigation

KAMLOOPS – A recent city decision to decommission a local irrigation system has some local farmers feeling like they’ve been hung out to dry.

About 40 users of the Noble Creek Irrigation System left a public information meeting June 19 with more questions than answers after coming to learn more about Kamloops’ decision at an in camera meeting May 30 to decommission the system this fall.

Users were informed via email June 12 of council’s decision and invited to attend the meeting “to gather information and ask questions to staff and Council about how the directive will be implemented.”

“It kinda came to us out of nowhere. We weren’t expecting this at all,” says Adam Woodward of Privato Vineyard & Winery on Westsyde Road.

He was frustrated by the meeting structure, which included a presentation by city staff followed by small

ad hoc group discussions.

“There was no opportunity for engagement afterwards. There was no dialogue directly, back and forth,” he says.

Councillor Katie Neustaeter says the goal was for council to hear people’s questions and concerns then have staff provide answers and help users meet their irrigation needs.

“This is a council that is committed to walking with these folks through whatever comes next,” says Neustaeter. “We will have those conversations with staff about what was heard tonight, what matters to the community, what their fears are and find out how we can best serve them.”

She would not comment on whether those questions should have been asked and answered prior to the decommission decision.

Woodward and other NCIS users have been part of a city task force to explore funding options to keep the system viable. The group formed in 2020 after that council backed down from a proposal to undertake a $14 million upgrade that would see users on the hook for 80% of that cost.

In 2022, the city earmarked $3 million to upgrade the system with the goal of keeping it operational until 2028.

Things changed May 12 when the city declared a local state of emergency after extreme high water levels caused erosion that threatened the NCIS intake.

The city riprapped a section of riverbank through the Emergency Program Act to protect the infrastructure but told users that it may have to be removed at the direction of the province.

Historic lows

The North Thompson River hit a historic low prior to the spring freshet and again after, making water scarce in the Thompson region.

A decision to shut down the irrigation system came soon after.

“When we look at how quickly the erosion has been happening in that area and that water intake, the cost of the other options presented to us to make the NCIS more sustainable, council decided that this was the route we wanted to go,” explains councillor Mike O’Reilly. “That makes it challenging when users are expecting a service that we simply can’t provide based on Mother Nature.”

The system provides irrigation water to properties along Westsyde and Dairy roads, about half of those without direct access to the North Thompson River.

Gerd Dessau and his wife Pat have farmed about 67 landlocked acres for 35 years and her father farmed there before them.

They have a few cattle and grow hay for other producers, with the irrigation system critical to their success.

“If they shut it down, we’re done,” he notes. “They’re going to take quite a few people out of the farming business.”

Danielle Wegelin and her husband recently experimented with dryland hay on about 14 acres, with decent results the first year but this spring was disastrous.

“I couldn’t have gotten more than 100 bales off my fields where normally I could do 500-600,” she says.

They also rely on small crops like garlic and asparagus to maintain their farm status and reducing the growing area for those crops has only created more physical labour.

“So it’s a huge impact trying to figure out how we’re going to have water,” Wegelen adds.

Woodward, whose family also runs a cidery and grows Christmas trees, says dryland farming is not an option for many in the area.

“There’s other crops out there, such as mine, if it doesn’t get water, it’s going to die. If we don’t get water, we’re not farming anymore. Plain and simple.”

The city presented a draft compensation plan for users at the meeting but Woodward doubts it will be sufficient.

“We’ve got some ballpark numbers of what it would cost us for our farm and what they’re offering is nowhere near what we would need for our own properties,” says Woodward.

Compensation depends on the parcel size of irrigable land, ranging from $5,000 to $250,000.

Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson says the compensation cost has ballooned from about $450,000 that was initially presented to about $1 million.

He says there should have been more discussion before making such an important decision.

“Since our meeting, I’ve learned a lot of different things that I wished I would have known at the time.”

Should be a water utility

Civil and water engineer Jeremy Cooke, hired by the user group to provide advice on a way forward, says NCIS users should become a water utility despite the province’s reluctance to create such entities.

“I think it’s been grandfathered in the sense that these guys have been a water utility all this time, just under the municipality,” he explains.

The irrigation system was originally constructed in 1903 and some of the current infrastructure dates back to 1968. North and south Kamloops amalgamated in 1967 and added other areas including the unincorporated area of Westsyde in 1973. The city then took over the NCIS.

Wegelin, who was involved with a community water system in Pritchard, has concerns about how much work they would be taking on.

“We’ve asked for preventative maintenance numbers and nothing’s :een provided to us in all of the meetings,” she notes. “They want us to take over a system that’s busted.”

Cooke says the system could be viable with the right amount of funding.

He thinks the pipes would work for another 50 to 100 years and historical dams in the area could be rebuilt to serve the system.

“Individual pump systems out of the North Thompson River is not going to work,” he adds.

He also suggests that upgrading the irrigation system would cost upwards of $3 million if done “ranch style” – for agricultural irrigation purposes only.

The city’s 2020 proposal called for a potable water system that cost

$14 million. That is now estimated at about $70 million.

Cooke and Woodward agree that the key is to find an equitable way to make the transition to a community water utility.

“I think we need to find a solution that will make both parties happy. We need to get away from each other but the city needs to be a part of that solution to get away,” says Woodward.

Cooke says agritourism is a viable funding avenue, with ample federal funds currently available to grow food.

“They should be selling it to the users for $1. Farming doesn’t make money on its own,” he says. “Agriculture needs to be subsidized. Otherwise we’re not going to eat.”