Kamloops City Council has come up with a plan to potentially try and extend the life of the Noble Creek Irrigation System.

The nearly six hour discussion Tuesday, saw much of the conversation fueled by anger and frustration from some of the 41 users, who called on the City to save the irrigation system.

While the decommissioning date is still in place for the end of 2023, Council has directed staff to see if the system could operate through the 2024 growing season with the current level of rip rap at the intake.

That rip rap was installed to shore up concerns around erosion at the system intake earlier this year. Given that it was installed during a state of emergency without the necessary federal and provincial permits, it has to be removed once the risks have eased.

“The possibility of extending the use of rip rap around the Noble Creek Irrigation System is being reviewed by the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, the Ministry of Forests and the City of Kamloops,” BC Emergency Management ministry spokesperson, Aimee Harper, told Radio NL in an emailed statement, last week.

Kamloops City staff though said that even if major fortification work was approved at the intake site, it’s unlikely to meet provincial regulations.

“Money has never been a problem since 2020. That’s not what’s prevented this project from going,” said Utility Services Manager Greg Wightman. “It’s the approval from the Ministry of Forests Water Management Group. [The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans] has not been a challenge. I’m not saying that the province has been difficult — those are the regulations we have to meet.”

Responding to some of the users of the system who – in frustration – asked why action hadn’t been taken to save the irrigation system, Councillor Bill Sarai said work to figure out how to do so has been at the top of the list during conversations at meetings.

“But before that, when I first got elected with councillor O’Reilly and councillor Bass, the first issue we faced – the hardest issue – was your registered letters that came out in the winter of 2018 telling you your water’s gonna be shut off,” he explained.

“It was all new to us, we were five new councillors, and most of us came out and visited you and talked to you. I met a bunch of your neighbors out there personally to talk and get more information to find out other avenues we could use to keep this water running over the past five years.”

However, Sarai went on to say that every time they tried to move forward, they hit another roadblock.

“This year with the roadblock and the provincial government not coming forward, and Mother Nature throwing a wildcard at us in this drought season, and also the liability we face by running that system and it failing,” he said.

“We are liable for that and all the user groups in our water system that are potable water that is on that system are liable; as an elected official, we have to look at the bigger picture of what if this happens.”

Low water levels on the North Thompson saw the system shut down earlier this month, with farmers who use it, forced to find other sources of water for the rest of this growing season.

“None of us here want the water shut off,” Sarai said. “We did not go out there on Friday and say ‘Shut the water off, the bell went off.'”

“We tried to figure out a way to keep it going, and we are still trying to do that, but what we are saying is, we are in such a spot now that liability-wise, we cannot let it keep going on the way the system is set up now.”

Councillor Mike O’Reilly also responded to the users who packed Council Chambers on Tuesday, saying action must be taken during this term of council.

“I think for me, I don’t want to leave this term, and the first meeting to come to the next council saying ‘okay we have NCIS, we have a problem here… and that council wondering what they have been left with and why it hasn’t been dealt with,” he said. 

“They are going to be hard conversations on all sides, and I don’t think the result is going to be perfect for anybody, but we do need to make a decision not just for NCIS, but for Kamloops and to be able to move forward.”

Meanwhile, the City will also begin the process of transferring its water license for the Noble Creek system to its users.

Council also directed staff to send a letter to Forests Minister Bruce Ralston, telling him about the impacts of decommissioning the system unless the ministry allows emergency rip rap to stay in place.

They have also requested a follow-up meeting with the Minister at the UBCM meeting in September.

“The bottom line is, there’s no ideal solution here at this point,” Wightman added. “If council were to direct us today to run this until 2024, I can’t guarantee that we’re going to be able to do that, so it won’t provide the assurance the customers are looking for.”

“We’re in a really precarious and challenging position.”

–With files from Victor Kaisar