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Ladner berry farm has seen enough water

Update: In an email response to this story, Kelly Knowlan with Village Farms denied water has been "pumped" onto their neighbours property or the ditch, noting they have a large retention pond at the rear of the greenhouse property to control the amo
badh berry farm
Facebook photos show the extent flooding last weekend onto Badh’s Ladner farm, which he says is an ongoing problem costing him major dollars.

 

Update: In an email response to this story, Kelly Knowlan with Village Farms denied water has been "pumped" onto their neighbours property or the ditch, noting they have a large retention pond at the rear of the greenhouse property to control the amount of rain water and storm water that enters the ditch, following Delta’s regulations. There is also a spillway in one corner of the pond
and an emergency overflow pipe on the Ladner Trunk side, neither of them have pumps as suggested, countered Knowlan.
"The property that got flooded has been flooding for many years, long before our greenhouse was built. This landowner is using this type of thing to further bolster his need to bring in fill to raise his property, unfortunately he’s put us in the crosshairs!" stated Knowlan.    
When this story first ran online it generated much discussion on Facebook regarding the history of the property. Delta South MLA and former city councillor Ian Paton said a new pumping station is in the works for the low-lying area between 80th and 88th streets.
"It would potentially pump under the railway tracks to the main center slough  However this would be a massive cost to taxpayers for this drainage project which would benefit only one or two farms. In the meantime it is up to individual landowners to maintain ditch cleaning and culvert clearing. Delta actively continues municipal ditch cleaning and has been a priority on farm roads in the past 10 years," Paton posted.

 

The City of Delta continues to show a blatant disregard for its berry farmers.

That’s what Gurdail Singh Badh says has been highlighted yet again when it comes to his farm in the 8400-block of Ladner Trunk Road being flooded last week thanks in large part to the neighbouring greenhouse.

The heavy rainfall already posed a challenge and a video by his tenant, which was posted on Facebook, shows how the situation was made worse when large amounts of water were pumped out from the neighbouring property.

“This is basically what we’ve been suffering right from day one,” said Badh.

Delta engineering director Steven Lan told the Optimist the city has met with the property owner and is looking at potential solutions. He said the water from the neighbouring greenhouse was pumped into the municipal ditch system, not directly onto the neighbouring field.

However, a frustrated Badh noted the greenhouse should show some regard for its neighbours by not pumping water from a retention pond into an already full municipal ditch system, something he believes should be prohibited.

It’s just the latest in an ongoing history of complaints dating back several years.

Badh said it’s been acknowledged by others that his farm is in a low-lying area which makes it all the more puzzling why the city denied his application to bring in fill in order to prevent his property from being underwater.

“Why would they on purpose empty out their ponds in a full ditch and how much of the chemically contaminated water is ending up on my fields and damaging my berries? I would like to get an explanation,” he said.

In 2011, Delta council shot down his application, which had also been rejected by the civic agricultural advisory committee, to deposit 196,000 cubic metres of soil on the 35-hectare (87-acre) site in order to raise the land about two feet to address drainage concerns. The Agricultural Land Commission also opposed the idea.