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April 25, 2024 - 10:30 AM
Kamloops farmers along the North Thompson are officially on their own to get water to their crops.
What remains of the City of Kamloops-owned Noble Creek irrigation system was handed over to a collective of Westsyde farmers for $5, according to a notice from a closed door council meeting on April 23.
The system was used for decades to water crops along the North Thompson and had been preparing to shut the ageing system down by 2028. Erosion last spring forced the shutdown to come much sooner, however, and the river water intake system was demolished by October.
The City paid for the shutdown and for settlements to each of the farmers now forced to find new water sources.
The system was sold to the Noble Creek Irrigation Society, which consists of some of the more than three dozen farmers in the area.
It's not clear how much progress the society has made in getting the existing irrigation pipes connected to a new river intake.
According to the society's website, Kamloops is in "real danger" of not having functional farmland in Westsyde without irrigation in place, an agricultural region the society says contributes $6 million to the local economy each year.
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