It’s a huge expense for a small community and the mayor says they can’t pay for it alone.
Oliver town council is seeking financial help for a multi-million dollar irrigation project.
About a year ago, a rock fall off a giant cliff at Gallagher Lake partially collapsed an underground irrigation pipe at the base of the cliff.
The two metre diameter flume is crucial for about 400 agricultural users as it provides water to thousands of acres of orchards, vineyards and ground crops in the south Okanagan.
Repairs were made by inserting sleeves into the pipe at a cost of about a million dollars, reducing water flows by about a third.
“So if we have a hot summer like 2015 we’d probably be going to the farmers for odd-even watering days, saying we have to have some kind of a restriction,” says Oliver mayor Ron Hovanes.
He says a permanent fix is to move the irrigation pipe away from the base of the cliff and along side nearby Highway 97.
“But that’s a $10.4 million dollar hit and we can’t afford that as a small community.”
So council is lobbying the federal and provincial governments for grant money, arguing the area’s agriculture industry is bigger than just the Town of Oliver.
“It’s a huge contributor to the economy of the south Okanagan, that irrigation canal, so we need a proper fix,” says Hovanes. “If we lost the canal it would be catastrophic. It’s upwards of $175 million in damages if we lost crops and root stock, if we had to start over.”
The mayor is optimistic senior government funding will be approved in time for project construction to be completed for the 2018 irrigation season.
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