By ROY WOOD
Costs could run to nearly half a million dollars to repair the Town of Oliver’s main irrigation system damaged by a rock slide last month.
Crews will start work this week to repair a siphon before the early April start of irrigation season.
A late January rockslide at Gallagher Lake damaged a 20-metre-long underground section of the irrigation canal.
Town operations director Shawn Goodsell said in an interview Monday that a scaling crew will begin working Wednesday.
“They’ll heli-lift in and work their way down the mountain” clearing loose material, he said.
The scaling work will likely take about a week and then a construction crew will follow to install the new concrete pipe. The pipe – 78 inches in diameter – has been ordered, Goodsell said. It is buried about 6 feet underneath the surface.
If the weather cooperates, the project could be completed in about four weeks. But if it turns rainy and cold, completion could be delayed beyond the scheduled start of irrigation season.
Good sell said the current cost estimate is “in the $430,000 range with a built-in contingency.” It could be less or more, depending on how long it takes, he said.
He said some of the costs could be paid out of reserves, but “the town will have to borrow” to pay the bulk of the amount.
Chief financial officer David Svetlichny said at Monday’s council meeting that in a situation like this there are only three choices about how to pay the bills: “Debt, reserves or raise fees.”
He said town staff would have a report for council, including recommendations on funding, at a future meeting. The next council meeting is March 14.
Svetlichny said $430,000 is a “very preliminary estimate.”
Mayor Ron Hovanes said MLA Linda Larson has been approached regarding possible help from the province, but there has been no word so far.
Hovanes emphasized the need for a speedy repair of the damage. The system “has to be full of irrigation water in the first week of April.”
The Oliver irrigation system begins at McIntyre Dam and extends through Gallagher Lake, across the Osoyoos Indian Band lands ending at Road 22.