Aerial map showing land irrigated by the Noble Creek Irrigation System

The City of Kamloops has decided to fully divest itself from the troubled Noble Creek Irrigation System in Westsyde.

As part of a closed meeting on Tuesday, City Council voted to stop the procurement process for a temporary watering system for this year, which had been viewed as a temporary fix to help the existing 41 users of the System get through this year.

Utilities Services Manager Greg Wightman says the move is due to most of 41 property owners being unable to afford their stake.

“A majority of the larger properties out there could only afford up to 25 percent of a 500,000 dollar temporary irrigation service,” said Wightman.  “The procurement process was indicating that costs were going to be significantly higher than what we had presented to council previously.”

The initial cost to purchase the temporary system this year was initially pegged at between $500,000 and $700,000 dollars.

Wightman while he’s unable to say how much more the costs increased due to privacy issues, he does contend it was “much higher” than the $700,000 top end.

“Council was faced with a decision of potentially contributing more money from the potted water utility, but also understanding that customers can only afford 25 percent of a 500,000 dollar service,” said Wightman.

Wightman says the City now intends to put the system up for sale, with expectations the Noble Creek Irrigation Society will purchase it.

“Sell the remaining assets to the Society, and let the Society run this System for 2024,” said Wightman.  “They feel comfortable that they would be able to get everything done that needed to happen.”

As part of the Council decision, the City will not provide any additional money for the purchase or operation of Noble Creek, with Wightman noting every property owner has already agreed to split 3.2 million the City has already put forward to compensate the users for the loss of the system.

Wightman does note the City will continue the decommissioning of the at-risk portions of the system, and will provide up to 100 staff hours to help the with transition.

“Recognizing that if the Society is going to be running this distribution system, obviously there’s a lot of intricacies around it and we’ve got staff that have been working on it for a lot of years,” noted Wightman. “But also, working through some of the permitting and licensing and challenges that will be ahead with working with the province.”

Wightman notes once that assistance is over, the City will no longer be party to Noble Creek operations.

“Once all the existing works there are decommissioned, and the asset is sold, then the City would be divested of that System,” said Wightman.