(image credit - CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

NOBLE CREEK IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Newly-formed Noble Creek Irrigation Society hopes to have water flowing by mid-May

Apr 24, 2024 | 5:31 PM

KAMLOOPS — The City of Kamloops has posted a notice of disposition for the remaining assets of the now-decommissioned Noble Creek Irrigation System. The notice posted to the city’s website on Tuesday (April 23) is the first of two that need to be posted in successive weeks, allowing any other parties to show interest in purchasing the assets. If no other group arises, the assets will be transferred to a newly formed Noble Creek Irrigation Society, made up of some of the properties owners affected by the shutdown last year.

With irrigation from Noble Creek not yet available, Dieter Dudy of Thistle Farms is using city-metered water to keep his crops alive in his two green houses as he waits patiently for the new system to come online.

“That works, and in fact to some degree with some of my earlier crops, like peas and that, we have run hoses down there and have a drip system so we can again use the domestic water supply. But when it comes time to get all the major planting done, I need water and I will need water on a large scale,” said Dudy.

Dudy owns 10 acres of farmland, and while he’s able to bite the bullet on using potable city water right now, he won’t be able to plant his crops until he’s confident water will be no issue.

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“I’m just looking forward to the season. Hopefully our drought level is not going to be such that we have to really be concerned because the river level is still going to be a determining factor on how well we can water here,” added Dudy.

In the aftermath of the system being decommissioned last year, the community has split, with some farmers going their own way, and the society being formed for a handful of others to work together, but that solution is not cheap, with Tricia Sullivan at Sullindeo Farms noting her share for 10 acres will well surpass $30,000.

“We lose our land value, our property value goes down, our livelihood goes down, without the water and if the city had been proactive previously, nobody would have been in this position,” Sullivan told CFJC News.

Should the disposition move forward, Dudy and the approximately 17 others on the new system are hoping to have access to water in early May, and the city did confirm they are working with the community to ensure everything runs smoothly.

“This is an opportunity for the society to own the infrastructure and we are also working on an agreement where the society would be able to pump water under our license for this year while they pursue their own license,” outlined City of Kamloops Utility Services Manager Greg Wightman.

While it may not be the perfect solution, and Sullivan questioned how it ever got to this point, Dudy is happy to simply being moving forward.

“I think we could have salvaged the system that was in place — in fact my feel is we could have saved a lot of money in doing that. That said, it’s done so we need to move ahead and we have a solution in place now and we will go with that. But yes, I’m happy that it’s finally done and we can move on,” said Dudy.