Water: A farming essential
Ag Council committee working to help forge legislation that will assure a secure supply.
By Judie Steeves A
s long as land in B.C. is locked into an agricultural reserve, a new provincial Water Act must ensure there is water reserved to make that farmland viable to grow food. That’s a basic premise behind discussions that have been going on within the Water Committee of the B.C. Agriculture Council, made up of representatives from most sectors in the province.
The Ministry of Environment’s Policy Proposal on British Columbia’s new Water Sustainability Act released late last year refers to an Agricultural Water Reserve (AWR), but doesn’t provide the details on how it would work, so farmers have been grappling with the issues they feel must be included in a water reserve, in preparation to make a presentation to government. Some of the principles they feel must be part of an AWR were discussed at a meeting early this summer with the Okanagan Basin Water Board by Ted van der Gulik, senior engineer in sustainable agriculture management for the agriculture ministry, who has been providing support to the committee. Since water is required to grow food, an assured, safe, secure, affordable source of water is at the foundation of farming, he noted. And it is the objective of the BCAC Water Committee that the AWR will be implemented in such a way that agriculture will have this assurance. The committee is encouraged that government appears to be supportive of the concept. The Policy Proposal on the Water Sustainability Act states very clearly that, “Agricultural water reserves will protect the future water supply needs of land within the ALR and protect agricultural water needs. Creating agricultural water reserves will potentially improve the long-term security of water supply for ALR lands. This will also support increased agricultural production and food
security, and water use efficiency within the agriculture sector.”
There is no such assurance in the existing provincial Water Act. Van der Gulik noted that watershed management plans should form the basis of the AWR, and a reserve should be based on projected needs using science, with an allowance for such factors as climate change and changing demographics along with future needs for increased agricultural production. Denise MacDonald, a Summerland orchardist and member of the B.C. Fruit Growers’ Association board, sits on the BCAC committee drafting the
principles, and said an AWR likely would vary by watersheds and licences.
Each watershed needs to prepare water management plans and drought management plans and
implementation of those is of concern to the farming community. “It’s vital that local
governing bodies implementing such plans work with agriculture to ensure an AWR is integrated into the watershed plan,” MacDonald added. She is hopeful an AWR would change the current situation where neighbours are sometimes pitted against each other in a battle over water.
“Water for agriculture needs to be adequate, affordable and assured,” she said, adding, “An AWR must maintain the capacity of the land to produce food.”
“I see it as another tool for the ALR to protect foodlands,” she added.
18 British Columbia Berry Grower • Fall 2011
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