In his 42 years living on Khenipsen Road in Duncan, George Croy has never seen a drier year on his waterfront property.
Croy said his one-acre property’s unique geographical location that makes it one of the warmest areas in Canada, mixed with a dry summer that has seen less than two millimetres of rain fall in the area in two months, has caused the old-growth trees on his property and other growth to begin feeling the effects of the drought.
He said he has been sprinkling the property with water from his well, but it has done little to alleviate the situation.
So Croy decided on a unique and dramatic solution to his water woes.
On Aug. 11, he hired Duncan’s Water on Wheels to load one its trucks up with 3,600 gallons of water and had it dumped across a number of areas on the property that would allow the water to flow freely until it was absorbed by the parched ground.
“I’ve never had to do this before,” Croy said as he watched the water pumped from the truck’s hoses into small and dried-up stream beds on his property.
“But the tops of my trees have begun to turn brown and I felt it was tome to do something about it. I just hope this works.”
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Brent Winnitoy, owner of Water on Wheels, said it’s been many years since his company has been tasked to dump so much water on open ground.
He said most of the jobs he receives during dry summers is to fill emptied wells and cisterns.
“It’s not unusual to have 30 days or more without rain each summer, but I expect the fires in the interior and the smoke that drifted here from them have people more aware and concerned about fires and drought this year,” Winnitoy said.
“Sometimes where we’re called out to fill people wells and cisterns during dry summers, customers will often ask us to use whatever water is left over to water their lawns, shrubs and trees, but it’s rare to be asked to dump so much water just on the ground.”
