Vancouver Sun publishes 10-part series on “Water: Life blood of BC” – part 6 is about competition for precious water in drought-stricken Nicola Valley

Note to Reader:

Climate change threatens to make this summer’s drought look minor. In September 2015, the Vancouver Sun newspaper is publishing a 10-part series of articles about “Water: Life blood of BC”. The series theme is how BC uses water and what the future has in store for our waterways. Published on September 18, the sixth installment describes how the flow in the Nicola River is slurped up by a gauntlet of ranchers desperate for irrigation for cattle forage.

As Rivers Dwindle, Ranchers, Farmers, Fish All Need Water

In the sixth installment, Larry Pynn writes that:

“Along the way, the Coldwater River just keeps shrinking. By the time the weakened stream joins the Nicola River on the western edge of Merritt, you can virtually walk across it without getting your ankles wet. One immediately thinks of the drought-stricken, over-taxed southern United States where the once-mighty Rio Grande and Colorado rivers now crawl their way to the Mexican border.”

The Nicola watershed has been under the public spotlight since 2004, when it was named the most endangered river in the province because water withdrawals put fish at risk.

To Learn More:

To read the sixth installment in the 10-part series, click on As rivers dwindle, ranchers, farmers, fish all need water