2010-2016 – BC Ministry of Agriculture and others

The Agriculture Water Demand Model was developed to provide information on current and future agriculture water demands for the Okanagan Basin in the context of rapid population growth, drought from climate change and overall increased water demand. The Model has also since been used in other BC watersheds.

The intent of the model is to help fulfil the province’s commitment under the Living Water Strategy to reserve water for agricultural lands. The model calculates water use on a property-by-property basis and sums each property to obtain a total for the entire basin or sub-basins. Crop, irrigation system type, soils and climate data are used to calculate the water demand. Lands within the Agriculture Land Reserve were included in the project.

The following reports are available from the BC Ministry of Agriculture:

• Agriculture Water Demand Model Factsheet – revised Sept 2015 (PDF)
• Report for the City of Kamloops May 2016 (PDF, 3.6 MB)
• Report for the Fraser Valley Feb 2015 (PDF, 2.0 MB)
• Report for the Comox Valley Regional District Dec 2014 (PDF, 1.3 MB)
• Report for the Bonaparte Watershed Oct 2013 (PDF, 5.3 MB)
• Report for the Kettle Watershed Oct 2013 (PDF, 2.7MB)
• Report for the Nicola Watershed Oct 2013 (PDF, 2.0MB)
• Report for the Similkameen Watershed Oct 2013 (PDF, 2.2 MB)
• Report for Metro Vancouver June 2013 (PDF, 7.9 MB)
• Report for the Cowichan Valley Regional District June 2013 (PDF, 4.4 MB)
• Report for the Regional District of Nanaimo May 2013 (PDF, 3.5 MB)
• Report for the North Thompson May 2013 (PDF, 4.0 MB)
• Report for the Okanagan Basin  Feb 2010 (PDF, 9.0 MB)

Here also is a short video introducing the Model when it was a finalist for the 2009/2010 Premier’s Awards.