‘We just never had any rain,’ lack of water plaguing Blackwell Dairy Farm in Kamloops

“Up until three days ago, we hadn’t had any rain and then we got a really good rain which is nice, and then we had another real good rain during the night, so that was quite a blessing, but its too little, too late for any crops or anything this year.”

While hot and dry Kamloops summers are not new for Blackwell and his operation, this year is different. The irrigation systems that are used to water around 300 acres of land at the farm are off, and its because Campbell Creek is bone dry.

“It’s never happened before,” Blackwell said. “There’s been a fairly big drought every 20 years or so and you’ll have a small drought about every five years, so its nothing new, but this has been the most drastic year yet where we haven’t had any water and no rain.”

Campbell Creek (Image Credit: Kent Simmonds/CFJC Today)

Blackwell Dairy Farm is one of 130 licensed users allowed to draw water from Campbell Creek though a system managed by the Campbell Creek Water User’s Community Association.

“I had to issue a memorandum directly to all of the water users that there was no irrigation water this year, and that any water in the creek has to be for domestic use only,” Blackwell added. “Even the small users, nobody was allowed to irrigate.”

“I have really good water licences [myself] but also I’m also the last in the creek, and if somebody else helps themselves illegally to the water ahead of time, its hard to get water.”

Blackwell recalled experiencing similar water scarcity issues back in 2003, noting it took eight days for water to get from storages lakes to his pumps that year as the water flowed through numerous aquifers in the area once it was released from the dams in early May.

“That particular year it started to rain and it helped us out with our irrigation,” Blackwell recalled. “Not only that, it provided a lot of run off that year and we managed to make it through the whole season. It was miraculous and that’s the kind of thing we’re praying for this year, but it never happened.”

Irrigation pivots at Blackwell Dairy Farm in Kamloops (Image Credit: Kent Simmonds/CFJC Today)

The dairy is connected to city water, so its milk processing operation which supplies stores in Kamloops and the surrounding area is not affected. However, with no water for irrigation, Blackwell said he’ll have to buy about $400,000 worth of feed this year, as he wasn’t able to grow enough.

“Our water users community – there’s 130 members there – and when you add it all up, there’s over a million dollars in losses that they’ve suffered as well,” Blackwell added.

Blackwell remains optimistic that this year’s water woes will be short-lived, as he’s hoping Mother Nature lends a helping hand, just like it did with that rain this past weekend.

“We’re going to be here for a long time,” Blackwell said. “I’ve seen it dry before. I’ve seen it hot before. I’ve seen cold winters before. I’ve seen a lot of snow before and we just hope that we get back to a good snowfall and it’ll cure a lot of needs.”

“We hope Mother Nature helps us out along the way.”

by Victor Kaisar

‘We just never had any rain,’ lack of water plaguing Blackwell Dairy Farm in Kamloops

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