TWO HILLS, Alta. — An historic drainage project that drains water from fields east of Edmonton has downstream farmers crying foul.
Andy and Joachim Gorgichuk understand that their pastures in the Vermilion River Valley will be flooded in the spring by melting snow.
However, they object to the reflooding of their pastures in the summer when upstream farmers drain unwanted water off their land.
“Why should we take the brunt,” said son Joachim. “It’s not our watershed that’s causing the problem.”
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The past two weeks of rainy weather have left 300 acres of hay land and 150 acres of pasture under water.
The father and son point to a combination of illegal drainage systems and the 1919 Holden Drainage District upstream for making their land unusable. The drainage district drains 200 sq. kilometres.
“We were just about dry and it back flooded badly,” said Joachim, who has not been able to graze his cattle because of the reflooding.
Added Andy: “It’s a big chunk of our land base.”
He said he has complained for years about the excess water funneled into the Vermilion River by the government-built drainage ditch, which is funded by local taxpayers and the agriculture and environment departments.
The Gorgichuks want the province to act on recommendations made by two government reports that suggested building small dams or back stops to slow the water as it comes out of the drainage ditches upstream.
“They can’t restore and rip out the drainage ditches, but they can help mitigate the flow,” said Joachim.
The 2009 Golder report said the Vermilion River Basin is one of the most altered basins in the North Saskatchewan River watershed, which has created variable water supply, flooding and water quality issues.
The Vermilion River Operation Advisory Committee was established as part of the report to obtain feedback from affected landowners and counties about problems and concerns in the river valley and to help government officials make decisions on managing the river.
Joachim said the twice-yearly meetings are divisive: farmers upstream don’t want controls on how much water leaves the area and farmers downstream demand more water flow controls.
The Morecambe Dam, 16 kilometres downstream from the Gorgichuks’ land, is designed to stop water from flooding farms below the dam. However, it can also cause their land to flood, depending on how quickly environment department staff open and close the gates.
“The province is responsible for water. It’s how they handle the water that we have a problem with,” said Joachim.
Andy said his family has owned the land since the early 1900s.
“We depend on that hay. “We want a reasonable use of our land.”
Joachim said he wants the government to either manage the water or pay the family fair compensation.
County of Two Hills councillor Pat Gordeyko said it’s not clear how water drained from fields upstream affect farmers downstream.
“There are other tributaries that are adding to the problem besides Holden drainage,” he said.
“This year there has been an exceptional amount of rain now moving in the Vermilion River.”
Gordeyko said the Gorgichuks are the largest private landholder on the flat river bottom between Ben’s Lake and the Morecambe Dam, which means they are affected the most.
“There are lots of single-owned quarters, but don’t have as much impact. The Gorgichuks are just tired of it.”
County councillors recently agreed to write a letter to Alberta Environment officials asking them to come to terms with flooded landowners.
“We are willing to host that meeting between environment and affected land parties,” said Gordeyko.
“If they don’t want to deal with the situation, they should be paying compensation.”
Alberta Environment spokesperson Cara Tobin said there are no plans to build hold backs along the system. The Gorgichuks’ land is simply in a low lying area, she added.
“The area is likely to flood every two to five years.”
Tobin said work was done in 2007 to improve the drainage, and the “problem was cleared.”
There are no new plans at this time for the river valley system, she added.
