Details of Saskatchewan’s new program to establish better water supplies in rural areas were to be rolled out May 1.
Southwestern residents entering their fourth year of severe drought conditions were especially interested in how it would work.
Eileen Davidson of Ponteix said there was no measurable precipitation at the ranch she and her husband, Vern, operate, after the “massive winter storm” forecast by Environment Canada wasn’t as far reaching as expected.
The biggest rainfall she has seen lately was water dripping off vehicles, she said.
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The $6 million Farm and Ranch Water Infrastructure Fund was announced in the March budget. Agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud appointed Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities officials David Marit, Doug Steele and Larry Grant to help develop the details.
Bjornerud recently told the legislature’s economy committee that several government departments, along with the federal Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration, were also involved.
He suggested the program would focus on community projects such as wells.
“I think I would like to see (RMs) take ownership of these wells,” Bjornerud said April 15. “Someone has to look after them and keep the maintenance and the upkeep, so that … they’re not vandalized and things like that.”
He said 42 rural municipalities are desperately short of water. How far $6 million will go to address that need remains to be seen.
The minister told the committee he would have a better idea in the fall and, if successful, the program could be made part of his ministry’s budget.
“I’d like to see this be an ongoing program,” Bjornerud said.
Orin Balas, who also ranches near Ponteix, is a member of the Southwest Drought Disaster Assistance Committee and serves on another committee looking at options to provide water to nearby rural residents.
A questionnaire has been distributed to local mailboxes to find out who would be in favour of a water pipeline.
“There are models to go by,” Balas said, including successful rural projects in the Humboldt, Wakaw and Melfort areas.
There are two possible water sources for a pipeline, including the reservoirs behind PFRA dams and good water sources in Ponteix and Aneroid.
He said there has to be a better system than hauling tanks of water.
“People have been tanking water all winter,” Balas said.
He hopes the provincial program allows the development of small springs. Such development hasn’t been permitted in previous programs yet could be feasible in certain circumstances, he said.
Another concern is proximity of sources to power water pumps and systems.
Balas has used a solar system to lift water 70 metres and push it nearly two kilometres to a pasture, but he said that isn’t strong enough. The nearest power line is about six kilometres away.
The situation is dire. Balas said residents of a nearby Hutterite colony dug more than four metres into the ground and found only powder all the way down.
Still, both he and Davidson are optimistic. The forecast for earlier this week called for some rain.
