The drought in the Okanagan continues to be a serious problem and it’s one that could return next year.
That’s the conclusion of many speakers at a workshop organized by the Okanagan Basin Water Board (OBWB) that brought together decision makers and stakeholders in Kelowna on Aug. 13.
Among those attending was Osoyoos Mayor Sue McKortoff, who also sits on the OBWB.
She said she was impressed to hear different solutions for managing the drought from people of different backgrounds and experience.
Some communities face different challenges, she said, pointing to a closing presentation by two women from the City of Vancouver that particularly impressed her.
“They were very good because they have a whole different scenario down there,” McKortoff said of the presentations by Jennifer Bailey, water quality and conservation program manager and Amanda McCuaig, communications manager.
Unlike the South Okanagan, which can draw from aquifers if it doesn’t get rainfall, Vancouver doesn’t have aquifers, McKortoff said.
Steve Thomson, Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, delivered opening remarks, in which he underlined that the province faces one of the driest years on record.
Level 4 drought conditions – the highest rating possible – are now in place not just in the Okanagan, but across Southern B.C., the minister said.
He noted that August is typically the driest month of the year, so conditions were expected to become even drier.
The drought and high temperatures are causing significant mortality rates in fish and have led the province to shut down more than 60 fish-bearing streams to protect fish stocks, Thomson said.
He warned that if drought conditions don’t improve, additional orders are possible, including in the Okanagan.
Anna Warwick Sears, OBWB executive director, noted the minister and his officials stayed for the entire four-hour workshop, indicating the province takes the drought seriously.
Many of the water users, which included agriculture, expressed a desire to be more involved in the drought response process, Warwick Sears said.
There was also a sharing of information about best practices, she said.
“What impressed me was the breadth and depth of different ways of emergency management of water supplies,” she added.
Richard Bussanich, a fisheries biologist with the Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA), spoke about efforts for more than a decade to bring back the sockeye salmon fishery.
He described this year’s conditions, which resulted in cancellation of recreational and commercial sockeye fisheries, as “sad and humbling.”
They were expecting the return of 100,000 sockeye to their spawning grounds, in addition to 50,000 to 100,000 for food, commercial and recreational fishing.
“This was going to be the best it had ever been since 1938, since we’ve been recording,” said Bussanich.
Now, with many fish dying in the Columbia River, the ONA only expects a return of 18,000 to 45,000 salmon.
Hans Buchler, representative of the B.C. Agricultural Council and a grape grower, said that with the early start of the growing season, many producers are coming close to using their full licensed allocation of water already, with several weeks remaining in the season.
He suggested that farmers could dramatically reduce water use for crops such as cherries and apricots that have already been harvested to ensure that there is enough water for later crops such as pears and apples – and for fish.
McKortoff said water restrictions in Osoyoos may have played a limited role in conserving water, but they have led to people thinking and talking about how they use water.
As areas of the province such as the Lower Mainland build more and more condominiums, and populations become denser, more people will require water from finite sources, she said.
Warwick Sears said the OBWB will be issuing a report on the forum soon that will be posted on the web at www.obwb.ca.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
