Summerland is heading into summer under severe drought conditions. Jeremy Storvold, director of utilities, updated District council on the current situation. One of the municipality’s main reservoirs has “stopped spilling” as of Tuesday morning, he said. “While some water may be observed passing over the spillway during windy conditions, this is due to wave action, rather than any meaningful water volume,” he said. “A good analogy is an infinity pool. You look at the edge of the pool and the water is right at the edge, but anyone splashing in there, it’s (water) coming over the edge. Over the past several weeks, reservoir levels have gradually declined as expected, with observations during calm conditions showing the reservoir is at or below full pool, he said. “It’s just starting to come down now, but it is right on that line,” he said, adding the volume of water that disperses over the edge is virtually negligible. Irrigation consumption will now be dispensed based on levels approved by council recently, said Storvold. The town’s meter reader technician returned to work from vacation on Wednesday and will be reading meters and detail important information on water usage by the end of the week, he said. “Once they are complete, staff will update allocation tracking and re-issue the annual irrigation letters and distribute a Voyent Alert notification advising customers that allocation accounting has commenced,” he said. ••• Storvold said the reservoir reaching the high-water mark by mid-June is weeks ahead of when it normally takes place in early or mid-July, based on data gathered over the past 52 years. “Last year was June 9, so we are in better shape this year in terms of the storage,” he said. Mayor Doug Holmes said the lack of snow over the past winter was “scary” and resulted in council voting to implement Level 4 drought warnings, which included reducing lawn watering significantly and imposing a fire ban. “We don’t necessarily want to have another winter like we had this past winter,” Holmes said. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” Water levels at the Garnet Valley dam have been coming down over the past few weeks, said Storvold. Coun. Richard Barkwill said drought concerns aren’t likely to get better as he listened to a radio report about a “super el nino” prognostication for this coming summer. “I don’t know what it means for Summerland, but I think we better keep an eye out. It’s going to be interesting,” he said. Holmes said the decision to allow the reservoir to fill near capacity was the correct decision as it allowed local farmers to “soak their soils a bit… it was a good experiment.”
By Keith Lacey, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Original Published on Jun 19, 2026 at 09:38
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