The Shuswap Watershed Council’s latest round of water quality grants has selected five farms to receive a total of $59,961 for projects that protect and improve water quality in the region.
The grant program focuses on assisting farmers and landowners manage phosphorus, which helps plants grow on land as well as in the water.
“When more phosphorus and other nutrients flow into the lake, the likelihood of water quality issues and algal blooms can increase,” explains program manager Erin Vieira. “Our goal with the grant program is to help farmers and other land stewards keep nutrients on the land and in the soil, not running off or leaching into nearby creeks and rivers where it could contribute to water quality concerns.”
The grants will assist Sunnybrae Winery and Vineyards in Tappen to install a fertigation system, which doses irrigation water with a precise amount of fertilizer and applies it directly to grape vines, reducing the risk of run-off.
Gietema Farms in Grindrod is also improving the accuracy and efficiency of fertilizer applications, using its grant funding to install a Precision GPS system to improve fertilizer and seed delivery.
The other three recipients are livestock operations, which will use their funding to prevent manure from entering watercourses.
These include Syme Farms in Salmon Arm, which is improving its on-farm manure storage, as well as Foxtrot Dairy in Salmon Arm and a farm property Jeffrey and Kristy Czepil are developing along Kingfisher Creek in Enderby, both of which are installing livestock control fencing to protect riparian areas.
The five recipients bring the total number of water quality grants issued by the council to 18 since the program launched in 2020.
While the grants themselves total $238,130, in-kind contributions more than double the total value of the water quality projects.
Eastern Filbert Blight threatens to resurface