Richter Pass viewpoint, 3 miles west of Osoyoos
Irrigation has been the key to development of the Okanagan. So often taken for granted elsewhere, water has magically unlocked the wealth in this dry valley giving life and industry to 45,000 acres below the ditch. Fed with water from high plateau lakes, the grey hillsides of sage brush, cactus, and sand have literally blossomed into Canada’s finest fruit basket.
Irrigation of the Okanagan was undertaken at the Okanagan Mission, a settlement begun by Father Pandosy and Father Richard in 1860. Those who settled around the Mission had at one time been miners and therefore were well-acquainted with the transportation of water by way of flumes (an inclined trough or chute).
The existence of many of the towns in the Okanagan Valley is the result of land and irrigation companies that built the irrigation systems serving them and attracted the people who settled there. Peachland, Summerland, Naramata and Penticton were all created in this manner. Kelowna was served by an irrigation system even before it was incorporated. Today, there are 12 irrigation districts in the central Okanagan with a combined total of 18,000 acres. The Vernon Irrigation District begun in 1920, now encompasses some 10,000 acres.
The Southern Okanagan Lands Irrigation District (SOLID) was established on June 25, 1964, under the provincial Water Act. The Act empowered SOLID to buy land, borrow money, assess taxes and tolls, and regulate subdivisions and water distribution. The District was formed in response to the provincial government's announcement that an irrigation system constructed between 1918 and 1923 by the Southern Okanagan Lands Project would be turned over to the citizens of Oliver and Osoyoos. Between 1964 and 1974, the province continued to administer the irrigation system during a period of rehabilitation funded under the federal - provincial Agricultural and Rural Development Agreement. The District assumed full control of the irrigation system in 1974. Following negotiations between the provincial government, SOLID, and the Towns of Oliver and Osoyoos, the District was dissolved in 1989, and the Towns of Oliver and Osoyoos assumed the functions of SOLID as of January 1990.
Additional information:
» www.livinglandscapes.bc.ca/thomp-ok/irrigating-of-okanagan/contents.html
