By ROY WOOD

The Town of Oliver has a plan it believes will see the agricultural irrigation system up and running on time this spring, although flows will be lower than normal and some restrictions are possible.

Council on Monday approved April 1 as the date to begin to fill the Oliver Water System and April 11 as the start of irrigation. The start date is in line with dates from recent years.

The Gallagher Lake siphon and flume section of the system was breached by a rockslide on January 25. Initial estimates put completion of repairs to the system at about the end of March.

However, the rock scaling and blasting required were more extensive than expected and a complete repair of the section is not possible in time to supply farms, orchards and vineyards in the town of Oliver, Electoral Area C and the Osoyoos Indian Band.

So, engineers and town staff came up with a temporary solution that will see a 48-inch steel sleeve inserted into the broken flume, allowing water to flow into the system.

Two 10-metre sections of culvert will be inserted into the broken flume. They’ll be held in place with spray foam and cemented at each end.

Deputy town operations director Darren Bjornson said Monday he is “quite confident” the temporary repair will sustain the system through the 2016 irrigation season.

Permanent replacement of the damaged 78-inch diameter flume will take place in October after irrigation season.

A report from operations director Shawn Goodsell warned, “our proposed fixes will restrict the normal volumes of water we are capable of providing through this irrigation season until a more permanent fix is safe to put in.

“This could mean that irrigation system users may have to restrict their water consumption this season and the town … may have to enforce an odd/even day for watering or some other form of restriction.”

At an emergency meeting last week month, council approved $475,000 to pay for the repairs to the system, but some estimates put the eventual cost much higher.