Rachelle Zelaney with her water allotment transfers (Image Credit: Zelaney Farms / Facebook)

By Liam Verster

Water Allotment Transfers

Water transfers ensure North Okanagan farmers can grow food

Jul 31, 2026 | 6:00 AM

The program to transfer water from one North Okanagan agricultural property to another has seen some positive results so far.

In response to the unprecedented drought conditions and water shortage, resulting in water restrictions for all properties including farms, the Regional District of North Okanagan allowed agricultural properties to transfer some of their allotted water to others.

This program, which had never been used before, has already yielded some positive results for local food growers, including Zelaney Farms.

“We’ve been on 70 per cent water restrictions and as we neared the end of the water that was allocated to us for this season we realized we were going to lose some crops and not be able to irrigate everything to keep the crops growing and to be able to harvest the food for our community,” Rachelle Zelaney, owner of the local farm, told Vernon Matters.

“We did announce on social media that we were going to experience some crop losses, and the community stepped up in a big way. Fellow farms contacted us. Even with small amounts [of water] they added up to big amounts, and there’s been four farms now that have sent some water allocation our way.”

Water Allotment Transfers

Water transfers ensure North Okanagan farmers can grow food

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Zelaney Farms did lose some crops, but the water transfers should be enough to keep the farm operational through the rest of the summer.

“We lost some cabbage and spinach, and we stopped picking our cucumbers, and then we had to compost a bunch of cabbage and cauliflower plants that didn’t even make it to the field just because we didn’t think we would have water to keep them alive,” Zelaney said.

“So we did lose all of those, but, with this new added allocation transfer, we are going to be able to re-seed some spinach, which we won’t have for the next month to six weeks, but we did seed some spinach [Wednesday] that will be available for fall harvest, and we didn’t expect that this season.”

The farmer was not able to say who shared their water, stating only that it mostly came from hobby farms or properties that were okay with losing some crops, and she was “very grateful” to be on the receiving end.

“I’m not the only one who has received water transfers; there are many other farms that are receiving water from other farms in the area,” Zelaney said.

“It’s really enlightening to hear and feel the support of the community and the support of the farming community because we’re all in this together, we’re all experiencing this drought, but other farmers are giving water to food producing farms or however it’s reallocated is making a huge difference in our food security, and there will be food on the tables for Okanagan residents because of this.”

Zelaney encouraged people to shop local and support the local growers, but also urged people to continue to follow the restrictions and find ways to conserve water whenever possible.

“The more water conservation there is the better the situation is for everybody,'” she said.

“We’re not only trying to protect water so that farms have water, we’re trying to protect water for the future and we’re trying to protect water for fishery flows and environmental flow needs and our wildlife. We can’t just keep take, take, taking. We’re in a situation where there is a drought and we all need to treat water like its a finite resource and not over-use just because we’re used to having an abundance.”

by Liam Verster

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