The drought rating in the Cariboo Chilcotin is one level off from extreme.
A level 3 drought rating was announced Friday for the region by the Ministry of Lands, Forests, and Natural Resource Operations.
Water Stewardship Manager, Valerie Cameron says everybody including agricultural water users needs to try to conserve as much water as possible and voluntary reduce their consumption by 30%.
“There are many ways they can do that. They can make sure their irrigation works are not leaking, that they’re using water efficiently, and making sure that there isn’t any water wastage, and try to cut back unnecessary use of water,” she says.
“There could very well be impacts of reduced water availability if the drought conditions continue to deteriorate.”
Cameron says some of those impacts would adversely affect fish.
“As water levels start to go down not only is there less water for fish to live in but the temperature of the water goes up so that causes a lot of stress on fish,” she explains.
“We’re watching ecosystems very carefully. There’s potential for fish mortality for sure.”
Cameron says despite some rain in the forecast by Environment Canada it won’t be enough for the stream levels to rebound to where they should be normally at this time of year.
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