Drought prompts order limiting irrigation from Bessette Creek in B.C. Interior

The ministry said 131 water license holders in the Bessette Creek watershed must stop using water for irrigation, harvesting, greenhouses, nurseries and well-drilling, effective Friday.

It said the Ministry of Agriculture and Food would help with claims involving crop failures or income declines.

Kevin Boon, general manger of the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association, said the ministry had been working closely with them over summer, and they saw the order coming.

“The thing for us is it’s late enough in the season that it had allowed them to schedule, so they were getting enough water to get by,” Boon said of ranchers. “So, it isn’t catastrophic the way it has been other years, so we’re accepting it quite well. Actually, it was expected.”

Boon said he was on the phone with Water and Land Minister Randene Neill on Friday and she had applauded the ranchers’ co-operation.

Boon said it was unclear how long the order would last, but farmers had enough water to get by.

He said statistics from 2015 showed there were about 1,500 storage dams in B.C., two-thirds of them were managed and owned by ranchers.

“I talk heavily about storing water, because if we don’t store it, we can’t manage it. We can’t turn the clouds on and off,” said Boon.

“But when it hits the ground, if we can hold it, every spring we see a whole bunch rush by us and go to the ocean. If we can hold that back, so that we can let it go when we need it, we have a lot better chance of creating a balance on the landscape and in the watershed with that,” he added.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 28, 2026.

The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Drought prompts order limiting irrigation from Bessette Creek in B.C. Interior

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