As water dries up in northeast B.C., some want industrial users paying more to pump it

Several times over the last five years, when Haley Bassett has turned on the taps at her family’s farm near Dawson Creek, nothing has come out. When she checks her well, the water filter is clogged with black sand.

It’s one of many strange changes she's noticed around the property her grandparents began farming in the 1960s, as deep-seated drought takes hold of the region.

“Now, I just have huge piles of sand in my yard that was pumped out of my well,” she said.

Much of northeastern B.C. is in severe or extreme drought, which has dried up rivers, stressed reservoirs and forced local governments to restrict water use.

Bassets says crop yields are thinning, trees are dying prematurely and weeds like Canada thistle have exploded. Winter winds at times blow more dust instead of snow.

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