KINISTINO, Sask. – There’s a reason farmers like Russel Porter are willing to pay $15,000 each to bring a water pipeline to their homes.
“I want better water. The water I have is not as it should be,” said Porter, who is trying to organize neighbors to bring a pipeline to their area south of Kinistino, in northeast Saskatchewan.
On this day, Porter and others keen to bring in water are meeting with Gerald Audette, of the Melfort Rural Pipeline Association, at the Swen Cafe in Kinistino.
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The Melfort system brings in water from the South Saskatchewan river and distributes it to 289 farms around the town. It started in 1994, linking up 52 people the first year.
Last year, the area north of Kinistino was linked to the main pipeline. This year farmer groups to the west and south want to link up, too.
Farmers like Porter are tired of their well water pumps breaking every six months, their waterpipes filling with iron, their clothes coming out of the wash red and having to haul in drinking water.
They also worry about the effect bad water on their cattle.
“They will not drink the well water. They’ll go lick snow,” said Dan Boyle, who farms west of town.
In the late winter, before runoff fills the dugout, Boyle brings in 1,000 gallons per day for the cattle. Ending the 38 kilometre daily journey would be a relief, but Boyle thinks better water for the cattle year round would prevent scours.
“It’d be real peace of mind knowing you have water there.”
Boyle and Porter are having trouble getting some neighbors committed to the line extensions.
It costs about $9,000 for every kilometre of pipe. The more who sign up to pay for the project, the less it will cost each one. Extending the line Boyle’s way would cost each of the nine farmers signed up about $17,000. If they could get others along the way to sign up, the price could fall to $14,000.
But many of the neighbors want the price down to $12,000 before they will join. Boyle and Porter don’t see the point in fighting over a couple of thousand dollars since the cost can be financed for 10 years through the water board.
Some older farmers have said they don’t think pipeline water is necessary because their water is as good as it ever has been.
Others say they just can’t afford to spend that much money on bringing water to their farms.
Carol Jones, whose home north of town received water last year, said people who want to bring water in should let their reluctant neighbors know what it might cost if they don’t join at the start.
They won’t be able to finance it through the water board, it may cost more and a contractor may not be willing to do the small amount of work needed to link them up.
Meskanaw farmer Jack Wilton said replacing the hard water his family has to use would be a relief.
“Just to have good water is a fight in the country,” said Wilton.
“People in the city can’t imagine not having good water. But we live with it every day.”
