Metro Vancouver Agricultural Water Forum: Agriculture and Irrigation in Surrey – a presentation by Carrie Baron, the City’s Drainage Manager

Water is not Unlimited

“Over 30% of the lands within Surrey are located within the Agricultural Land Reserve.  Of these lands, most as also located within a floodplain area,” states Carrie Baron, Drainage Manager, City of Surrey.

“The City has been constructing extensive flood control works since 1997 to improve drainage and the agricultural capabilities of these lands.  As a result, agricultural use has intensified throughout the area.”

“Irrigation has always been a concern in the agricultural lands with limited supply from the two main river systems.  With the change in agricultural capability there been an increase in demand for water use even though additional waters are not available.”

“The presentation walks through the City being caught in the middle of a variety of water interests, water users and regulations.  It tries to show that we have a finite supply of water in the river systems that cannot currently support all the demands.”

“The end result is that all interested parties need to work together to develop a watershed/water use plan for the area.  The new Water Sustainability Act enables this management to occur.  Now its just a matter of parties working together.”

To Learn More:

Download Agriculture and Irrigation in Surrey to view a PDF copy of the PowerPoint presentation by Carrie Baron.