Amidst growing concern of continued drought conditions in the Central Okanagan, Kelowna, B.C., farmers will soon have their water allotment capped at a maximum of up to 27 inches.
“We’re in the early stages of 2024, but we are concerned that because of the drought conditions, because of conditions from last year that we may or may not have enough water for how we normally operate the system,” said City of Kelowna utility planning manager, Rod MacLean.
“All farmers are allowed and provided up to 685 mm (27in) to whatever area that they’re provided.”
But one local cherry farmer says restrictions on irrigation could have devastating impacts on the local agriculture industry.
“So once we hit our limit, are they going to come and turn our water off,” questioned Kelowna cherry farmer and BC Cherry Association board member, Harsh Khela.
“You’ll see all of the trees around wilting over, and we don’t want that to happen, we want to be able to keep our water going and save our trees during those situations.”
While the city does have the ability to turn off the water on those who go over the allotment, MacLean says that’s not the goal.
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“We don’t have to talk about penalties, I think we need a softer approach,” said MacLean.
“Frankly it’s a bigger issue than just one person going over, this is really about being advised in advance early in the season.”
MacLean added that data shows water consumption from the city’s non-potable water system has been the highest ever over the last several years. In 2023, he says farmers used a record amount to irrigate their crops and fields.
“This year we don’t have normal conditions, we have constraints and with that, we need to re-educate ourselves sometimes, said MacLean.
“We’re providing some irrigation management to some of those users who went over their allotment last year — they can call the city and ask for that opportunity.”
Khela says he’s doing everything he possibly can to conserve water. He’s taken measures such as limiting his water allotment to 24 inches unless absolutely necessary and installing an automatic water irrigation system, but he and many other local farmers are at the mercy of Mother Nature.
“When we go over it’s for a certain reason, and it’s more Mother Nature than personally us wanting to go over,” said Khela.
“Water is also a negative to cherry trees because if you over-irrigate it can cause diseases, so we’re always looking at not watering more than we need to and have a balance.”
MacLean says approximately 480 farmers use the city’s non-potable water system to irrigate over two acres of land, and up to 200 others who use the same system to irrigate one acre of land.
As for urban water users, city council made no mention of any changes to the odd-even year-round watering system currently in place.
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