The City of Kamloops moving ahead with looking into temporary options for the Noble Creek Irrigation system.

On Tuesday, City staff put forward a series of options that could help keep the irrigation system operational in 2024, which included decommissioning the at-risk portions of the NCIS – like the intake and the pump house – and replacing it with a temporary pump along the riverbank.

After a lengthy council meeting, users of the system have been given a sigh of relief, as Council gave the green light to have staff look into the temporary pump options for the irrigation system and costs associated with it for the 2024 season.

RELATED: Future of Noble Creek Irrigation System could be decided Tuesday

City of Kamloops Utility Services Manager Greg Wightman says it comes as the at-risk portions of the Noble Creek Irrigation System will still be decommissioned at the end of 2023, a decision which council made in June.

“(With the decommissioning), there will be no pumphouse, there will be a temporary pump in the river and if we are going down the route of having a contractor operate that pump to supply water to the distribution system, it would be a competitive bid process which if anyone in the community or anywhere was interested in applying and they met all the qualifications and insurances and anything else that would be required, then they would be welcome to do that.”

Just last year, the City of Kamloops approved $3 million in much needed upgrades to try and keep the Noble Creek Irrigation System operational until 2028. While it is not clear how much of that $3-million has been spent, council continued to show its support with paying the rest of it back — as part of decommission payments —  to the Noble Creek users.

Councillor Bill Sarai says those payments, on top of the temporary pump for 2024, will give users more time to develop a plan to get water for 2025.

“The decommissioning payments will give some certainty to the user groups so they have some funds, whether it’s a consultant, find a well on their property, look at what we are trying to do.”

While some concerns were brought up amongst council with the costs associated with installing and operating a temporary pumping system into 2024, for — potentially not all the users — Councillor Bepple says the decision made is “political.”

“We are caught between the 41 users, only 29 have had any interest in forming a group, and of the 29 — or 26 I guess –only three have actually joined a society — so what about the other 12 or so that are out there.”

Wightman goes on to say staff will bring back a report to council with the costs of the temporary pumping system once they gather the information.
“The customers have paid their rates for this year, we do not bill the rate until 2024, so we would have time to do that,” said Wightman.

“We will have time to determine who does and does not want to be part of the temporary system at that point too, there may be people out there that have other water source options right now that will take their decommissioning payment, make their application to the province for a point of diversion, get their apportion quantity as part of our decommissioning plan and off they go.”

Meanwhile, asked by a user of the Noble Creek Irrigation System whether or not the working group would be consulted with the temporary pump options for the system, Councillor Katie Neustater responded.

“It wasn’t in the motion, but it is our understanding that staff will circle in with the working group before bringing us that report and those options; that is the intention.”

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.

Back in August, Council directed staff to see if the system could operate through the 2024 growing season with the current level of rip rap at the intake, however staff said that even if major fortification work was approved at the intake site, it’s unlikely to meet provincial regulations.

Kamloops administration will be bringing back a report with temporary pump options and costs at a future meeting.