Whereas agricultural dams are significant resources for water storage for food producers in certain regions of British Columbia, and climate change with temperature increases and hydrological shifts will make these water sources even more important in future; And whereas the Dam Safety Regulation specifies requirements for owners to hire engineers to inspect and develop plans to maintain these dams based on the level of risk; And whereas these requirements are complex, onerous, and prohibitively expensive to dam owners, and the level of risk depends in part on development downstream which is beyond the control of the dam owner; And whereas agricultural dams provide shared values to society, including recreational values, ecological values as they provide habitat for fish and wildlife, and water sources for forest firefighting: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM call on the Province to work with agricultural dam owners to assist them in meeting the requirements of the Dam Safety Regulation in order that these water storage resources are safely preserved for food production and other values into the future; And be it further resolved that UBCM request the Province to fairly apportion the cost of inspecting and maintaining agricultural dams in a manner that takes into account other shared values, and the level of development downstream from the dams.
Ministry of Agriculture The Ministry of Agriculture AGRI in collaboration with the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development FLNR have been working with agricultural dam owners to promote effective dam safety practices in British Columbia. As the regulator of dam safety for freshwater dams in BC, FLNR refers to the Canadian Dam Association Guidelines as the basis for dam safety requirements. All dam owners are subject to the same requirements, which are based on the failure consequence classification of the dam, regardless of the owner type or the uses of the water. AGRI has initiated a number of projects to support agricultural producers and promote dam safety practices: - AGRI and FLNR have partnered with the BC Cattlemens Association BCCA to estimate the number of active agricultural dams and to gather related information about dams. This includes a cost and benefit analysis study of agricultural dams and reservoirs in BC Under AGRIs Climate Action Initiative CAI, the BCCA has been a key partner in delivering a series of agricultural knowledge transfer workshops to support small dam owners on maintaining and enhancing dams in the Cariboo. - As part of AGRIs Growing Forward 2 programming, the Environmental Farm Plan EFPBeneficial Management Practices BMP Program provides cost-share funding to support technical feasibility studies, agricultural dam assessments and construction works related to erosion control of agricultural dams in riparian areas. This programming is expected to continue under the new FederalProvincialTerritorial agriculture partnership which begins April 1, 2018. - AGRI has developed the Agriculture Water Demand Model AWDM for most BC regions to estimate the current and future water requirements for agriculture including irrigation and livestock watering based on current land use and climate conditions as well as projected climate change and potential changes in land use. The AWDM results serve as a foundation for determining water storage needs necessary to support growth in agriculture. AGRI looks forward to continuing to build strong working relationships with involved ministries, the agriculture sector and local governments with the aim of identifying water infrastructure needs for agriculture as well as promoting effective dam safety practices in BC. The Province recognizes that careful and detailed planning work and ongoing collaboration and discussion is necessary to protect and secure existing water storage facilities, and explore opportunities to increase water storage capacity for agriculture.