ROTHENBURGER – With all that water flowing by, do we really need drought restrictions?
North Thompson River. (Image: Mel Rothenburger.
IT’S THE FISH. That’s the answer if you’ve been skeptical about the value of water bans during the drought.
We can be forgiven for asking about it — the rivers are certainly low but they don’t look like they’re going to go dry any time soon. After all, the North and South Thompson aren’t the Colorado, which regularly runs dry by the time it reaches the ocean. That particularly river system has been in a severe drought for 23 years.
Sometimes these water restrictions sound more like a big PR game than a necessity. When the City started talking about possible water restrictions a few weeks ago it didn’t properly explain the rationale. It simply said the drought was getting worse and, therefore, a clampdown on water usage might be necessary.
Kamloops residents are among the highest consumers of domestic water in the country but that’s an issue for infrastructure; the river level is scarcely affected by it. They point out they use a fraction of a percentage of the river flow and taps in the city aren’t going to run dry.
Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
You forgot to mention that people need fish for food as well. The salmon you eat from the ocean may have started life in the Thompson area. The spawning areas are now at risk.
So conserve water.
– let your lawn go brown
– put the plug in the tub when you shower or bathe and use that water to water outside plants.
– turn off the tap while you brush your teeth
– use ice cubes so you don’t have to run the water for 5 minutes to get it cool.
– test your dishwasher soap to see if it really works well – no rinsing.
I am sure folks have other ideas they could share.
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If “conserving every drop of what we can” was truly the case, the golf courses would be shut-down, agricultural use would be carefully monitored and the untold waste from the City of Kamloops including irrigation of the plastic field at Hillside stadium would also require addressing.
I am all for conservation but I am also for reasoned and honest discourse.
And I commend the Armchair Mayor for his editorials on this and very many other important local topics.
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