This year’s drought is leading to record-low water levels in the Thompson-Okanagan region, but it’s not just humans competing for hydration.

Scarce water in the southern Interior’s streams is risking fish habitat, already leading the province to halt irrigation along one river while closely monitoring several others.

But the Okanagan may be uniquely positioned to at least partially shield people from the drought.

“(The province) reports the natural condition, and in the Okanagan… it is not really a natural condition because of all the reservoirs in the hills,” Kelowna’s Black Mountain Irrigation District administrator Bob Hrasko told iNFOnews.ca.

Some areas are still getting hit hard by harsh water restrictions because of depleted reservoirs, most notably in the Vernon area, but Hrasko said the century-old reservoir systems set the Okanagan apart from other regions that rely on rivers and lakes.

“When the province now calls a drought condition in the Okanagan, there’s very few people that aren’t on a regulated system,” he said.

The severe drought in the region has led to record-low levels in Okanagan Lake and streams that lead to it, along with streams in the Nicola and Thompson regions, according to provincial government records.

With streams both low and heating up, the conditions could “cook” fish hatching in the drought-stricken region, according to fish biologist Dr. Marvin Rosenau, who now works with BC Wildlife Federation.

“If the streams get really low and super warm… and water gets too hot, then they cook,” he said of stream-spawning fish.

That includes salmon and trout in both the Thompson and Okanagan watersheds.

A dangerous situation for fish habitats will prompt the province to step in, but Rosenau said human needs often come first, adding that the province and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans have become less diligent over the years about protecting fish habitats.

“When it gets so dire and there’s a closure implemented, then it gets the front pages, but people always come first,” he said. “That doesn’t mean they’re not pretty bad or they’re less than perfect before that.”

The BC Wildlife Federation has recently been particularly concerned about steelhead trout, which have seen dwindling numbers of returns to the Thompson and Cariboo rivers. Over several decades, their returns have dwindled from thousands to dozens.

There are several reasons for the falling numbers, but Rosenau said drought conditions only make it harder to recover.

Salmon River near Westwold is the only waterway so far that has a strict ban on irrigation, now implemented for the fourth time in five years. It was done to protect Chinook salmon where Rosenau said the waterway has long been oversubscribed with irrigation pumps.

“The provincial and federal governments do not want to tangle with farmers,” Rosenau said.

He said the provincial government could consider clawing back its irrigation licences on at-risk waterways or levee fines against those overusing the water, but there are also proactive measures.

The BC Wildlife Federation, for example, has installed some artificial beaver dams, which help keep water in fish spawning habitats.

Meanwhile, the Okanagan drought conditions may be mitigated partly by reservoirs, but no one in the region is immune to water restrictions this year.

Go here to find more information about Okanagan water restrictions and here for Kamloops.