Salinity Issues With Irrigation Water

An initiative spearheaded by the Delta Farmers' Institute is well underway to better understand the Fraser River salt wedge and its impacts on Delta's irrigation water supply.

The current project is a Fraser River Salinity Modelling and Monitoring Study led by the DFI, which will examine salinity issues in the lower Fraser River.

Farm irrigation water intakes from the river are affected by the migration of the salt wedge, denser ocean salt water that pushes up the estuary when the river flows are reduced.

That denser salt water generally tends to remain at the bottom of the river and during periods of high flows is close to the river mouth. However, when river flows are lower in the fall and winter the salt wedge moves upstream.

The results of that modelling project will provide a salinity profile and recommendations for a three-year program that will see monitoring devices installed at various locations of the river

The budget for that three-year monitoring program is $160,000, of which the DFI has secured $90,000 from the Investment Agriculture 

Source: Delta Optimist