By Lyonel Doherty

A hobby farmer south of Oliver is crying foul over the Town charging a large increase in the Road 18 drainage system, a system he says is not even working.

Peguerto Dias (Spud) Torrao at 4250 Highway 97 said a number of his peach and cherry trees are dying because there is too much water. He pointed to the drainage infrastructure (an underground pipe) that isn’t draining the water. He suspects there’s a blockage in the pipe and wants the Town to fix it, similar to last year when an auger was used to clean it out.

Torrao said he’s being hit with a 300 per cent increase in drainage taxes. His new rate is $276 for 1.4 acres. He stressed that he doesn’t mind paying the increase as long as he’s getting some benefit from the system.

The system was transferred to the Town by the province as part of the dissolution of the South Okanagan Lands Irrigation District (SOLID) in 1989.

The drainage is a service that benefits 11 properties by keeping the ground water table lower to prevent pooling and damage.

But Torrao showed the Chronicle several fruit trees that have yellow leaves as opposed to green.

“It just breaks my heart to see these trees dying,” he said.

Torrao said nobody from the Town seems to be listening to his concerns, noting he has invited staff to look at the problem, but nobody has.

The farmer said if the Town fixes the blockage like it did last year, he will offer to maintain the system from that point on.

Cathy Cowan, the Town’s chief administrative officer, said this year’s tax increase on the drainage system represents approximately $5,000 in maintenance work that was undertaken in 2016.

Cowan said they also check the system on a monthly basis. She also pointed out that staff time has been spent trying to get permission from landowners to gain access to their property in order to maintain the system. But not all property owners have granted access, which has made it difficult to conduct maintenance work, she stated. According to Cowan, some property owners have even refused to answer the door.

“We’re not trying to be unfair about it,” Cowan said, adding that you can’t expect everyone to pay for something that only benefits 11 people.

She acknowledged that the pipe could be plugged somewhere, but said the Town has budgeted for cleaning sections of the pipe. This work will likely start in early summer, but again, unless access is granted, the Town will be unable to repair the system.

Cowan said the system is getting old and will eventually need to be rebuilt.