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Thursday, January 16, 2014
The Agassiz Y Harrison
The new
DISTRICT OF KENT WINTER LEISURE GUIDE IS AT THE OBSERVER
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JESSICA PETERS / OBSERVER
Ducks take flight above ditch near Ted Westlin’s home in Agassiz, on Sutherland Road. There was more water than usual in the area earlier this week, possibly due to a blockage further downstream and District of Kent staff are working with local landowners to remedy the situation.
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Farmland filling with water District planning to maintain McCallum in 2014 Jessica Peters THE OBSERVER
The new flood box in the District of Kent "isn't of any significant help whatsoever," if the water in the sloughs can't get there, according to a local landowner Like many farmers in the western reaches of Agassiz, Ted Westlin was dealing with a flooded field earlier this week. And while flooding has become commonplace in recent years due to changes in ditch maintenance schedules, this time it was worse, he said. "There is considerable high water here, and very little at the pump station," he said Monday. Westlin and a number
of other Agassiz farmers have been working with District staff throughout the week to pinpoint why the water levels are higher than usual. Mick Thiessen, operations and engineering services manager, said the problem is a lack of conveyance along the sloughs in the catchment area, and that the District staff are investigating several possibilities. Thiessen toured the area on Tuesday morning with Westlin, and a group of others that included Coun. Duane Post, who also lives in the affected area. "As a couple of dairy farmers," Post said, "we can't figure out why there's so much water."
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The tour along the sloughs did help staff come to some conclusions. "We suspect there is something affecting the flow somewhat," Thiessen said following the tour. "We noticed the water seems a little higher than usual. Not more stagnant, just a bit higher." He suggested that there may be a beaver dam or debris in the downstream end of the McCallum slough, and added that the significant rainfall recently hasn't helped. The District had already earmarked the downstream of that slough for their annual ditch maintenance for 2014, and they will be focusing their efforts in the region downstream from Sutherland Road,
where Westlin lives. The area is a large catchment area for precipitation, with water running off the hillsides toward the Fraser River. The sloughs and ditches help move that water along, but without proper conveyance, the waters sit. There are a number of factors at play, Thiessen explained. They include extra rainfall, development, removal of trees in the mountains and changes to ditch maintenence. And while some have pointed a finger at the prisons footprint on the catchment area, as well as water usage, Thiessen said it's not as big a factor as it Continued on 2
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