The B.C. government is providing just over half a million dollars towards the repair of an irrigation system that was damaged by a rock slide earlier this year.
Premier Christy Clark visited Oliver Monday to announce the $525,000 the province is providing to help repair a section of pipe near Gallagher Lake that was damaged by a January rock slide.
The pipe is part of an irrigation system that connects water users with a canal roughly five kilometres north of Oliver, supporting irrigation water in the Town of Oliver, the Osoyoos Indian Band and surrounding rural areas.
Clark said MLA Linda Larson could not make an appearance due to her husband’s health issues, but credited Larson as the driving force, along with Oliver Mayor Ron Hovanes, behind the partnership.
“Linda Larson has been a champion knowing that the city [sic] of Oliver, the taxpayers of Oliver, didn’t have the funds to make sure that this irrigation problem was resolved,” Clark said. “She worked hard with Mayor Hovanes and the Osoyoos Indian Band to make sure that we are in a position to help.”
The two phase project involves the insertion of a sleeve in the damaged pipe to allow water to flow for the short-term, with a permanent replacement pipe and stabilization of the area around the rock slide continuing this summer and into the fall.
“We want to keep your taxes low and your agriculture sector strong and thriving,” Clark said.
The Town of Oliver allocated $475,000 to the project with the province shoring up the rest of the bill, which would have fallen to Oliver taxpayers according to Mayor Hovanes.
“That’s huge. I asked our chief financial officer this morning if we had to bear all of this through our water fund. We would have to raise taxes, just on the water fund, by 40 per cent. It would just not be sustainable,” Hovanes said.
Clark noted the impact the damaged infrastructure has from wineries to berry growers and specifically mentioned the importance of K&C Silviculture — the largest silviculture producers in the western hemisphere. The Oliver area has over 30 wineries, as well producing $30 million worth of wine and fruit crops each year, with irrigation usually beginning in April.
Hovanes pointed to a report in 2012 that estimated the nearly $30 million financial impact on the agricultural community in Oliver if there was a loss of water access.
“All of those businesses that produce so much economic growth need to be sustained,” Clark said.
