CALGARY — A controversial water tax has been abandoned by the Alberta government, but irrigators are worried that if the idea floated once, it will return.
“All they have done is postponed the idea of the water tax,” said Stan Klassen, head of the Alberta Irrigation Projects Association.
Every water user in Alberta, which includes municipalities, irrigation districts and industries, must have a licence that stipulates how much water they may use each year. To raise additional money, the department of environmental protection proposed a fee of 40 cents per acre foot be attached to each licence.
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“It’s (a user fee) clearly in the new water legislation draft,” said Klassen.
He is concerned that if the act is approved in its present form, nothing will stop the department from bypassing the legislature and charging the fee. The act, which has been delayed passage for two years, is due for public review again this fall.
Where money should go
A committee met with irrigation farmers this summer to talk about the tax and how money should be directed for future rehabilitation of water works. The decision to drop the fee and a new cost sharing formula for irrigation maintenance came out of that committee’s recommendation to government last week.
The committee, headed by MLA Barry McFarland, recommended that $17 million from the irrigation district rehabilitation endowment fund be disbursed to the districts for the next three years.
Three years ago, the districts were promised $25 million a year to repair canals and headworks. Each year, the government held back $5 million of that fund as seed money for future programs, said Klassen.
Regular maintenance is necessary to keep the irrigation system working properly and some districts, like the Western Irrigation District based in Strathmore, need major repairs. In some areas, the systems are nearly 100 years old.
Waterways need upkeep
“We call them our water highways, and the same with our vehicular highways, if they don’t have a regular maintenance program, there comes a point in time they wear out,” said Klassen.
The committee also recommended that government continue to foot a large portion of the bill for infrastructure rehabilitation. With the old formula, the province paid 86 percent of repair costs. The new ratio for repair and maintenance costs will be 75 percent from government and 25 percent from the districts.
There are 7,575 km of canals in Alberta which are owned and operated by the irrigation districts. The province owns and operates the headworks systems which deliver water.
