REGINA – The Langenburg East Drainage Project will have to go through an environmental assessment.
But David Zerr, of the Langenburg Conservation and Development Authority and the project’s proponent, said the cost of an assessment could kill the project.
Zerr said the authority is trying to find out if it will have to pay the full price of an assessment. The project is expected to cost $550,000, Zerr said, but an assessment could add hundreds of thousands of dollars to that.
The Saskatchewan government’s environmental assessment office ordered the assessment. The Langenburg Conservation and Development Area Authority must complete it before they begin work on the project.
The proposed drainage project would channel water from an area in eastern Saskatchewan and feed it into the Assiniboine system in Manitoba.
Supporters say the project will improve local land quality, but opponents say it will cause flooding downstream in Manitoba.
Henry Epp, the manager of the government’s assessment division, said the widespread interprovincial concern with the project is one of the reasons the assessment has been demanded.
