The Town of Oliver has a “natural disaster” on its hands as it scrambles to repair irrigation flume damage at Gallagher Lake. Photo by Lyonel Doherty
The Town of Oliver is seeking emergency funding to ensure the agricultural community is not affected by a “natural disaster” involving its irrigation canal.
A rock slide at Gallagher Lake on January 25 damaged a section of siphon and flume that provide irrigation water to the Town, Area C and the Osoyoos Indian Band (OIB).
The Town engaged engineers to assess the damage and hired rock scalers to stabilize the area in preparation for flume repairs (pipe replacement).
Initial cost estimates were approximately $400,000 to $500,000.
Crews thought they could have everything fixed by the April deadline when irrigation water starts flowing. But the Town has learned that additional scaling and blasting is required, which is estimated to take an additional six to 10 weeks. This timeline will significantly impact orchard operations and could result in huge financial losses (millions of dollars).
“The seriousness of this slide has grown beyond the Town of Oliver,” said Mayor Ron Hovanes in a letter to BC Finance Minister Mike de Jong.
Hovanes met with OIB Chief Clarence Louie on Thursday regarding the flume damage, and council voted to remove up to $475,000 from reserves to fund the repairs.
Council also authorized the mayor to write de Jong to ask for emergency funding.
Councillor Jack Bennest said the canal is usually filled with river water around April 1, so the Town must find a temporary fix and permanent solution to the dangers of falling rock from the escarpment.
Hovanes said that without water in the canal in early April, farmers will see a loss of trees and ground crops, and vineyard owners will experience loss and stress to vines.
The water system services 2,345 residential, 216 commercial and 614 industrial/agricultural customers.
Based on 2012 crop values per acre, the loss in the first year (if irrigation water is disrupted) would be approximately $30 million, Hovanes noted. He added that the die-off of perennial plant stocks would be significant if water is disrupted for a long enough period. It is estimated the replanting cost would be approximately $27 million for water customers.
The mayor said the total loss in crop failure and recovery delays would be about $143 million.
In his call for financial assistance, Hovanes deemed the situation a “natural disaster.”
Water must be diverted to the canal while the scaling work is completed, so the Town is looking at various options including pumping water from Gallagher Lake to the canal to service the agricultural community.
Alternatively, water could be pumped from the pump houses, but that would place the entire water service on a boil water advisory, according to the Town.
“Unfortunately the properties that access low pressure service would not receive water, which would result in total loss of crop,” Hovanes said.
