MOOSE JAW, Sask. – Expanding three existing and adding two new irrigation projects in Saskatchewan still wouldn’t use all the available water.
Dale Miller, an engineer with UMA in Lethbridge, said the annual flow of water from Alberta into Lake Diefenbaker is 5.5 million cubic dams, assuming that the province keeps its full share.
One cubic dam equals 1,000 cubic metres of water.
Miller told Saskatchewan irrigators attending their annual conference here that Alberta lacks the capacity to keep its allocation and passes on probably 15 percent more than it is required to.
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“That spells opportunity,” he said.
Lake Diefenbaker, the reservoir constructed in the 1960s, was designed to irrigate 450,000 acres. Only about 100,000 acres are being irrigated from this source.
UMA has studied possible expansions to the South Saskatchewan River Irrigation District, Riverhurst and Luck Lake projects.
Together these irrigate more than 50,000 acres but could increase to 100,000 acres.
The two new proposals, known as Westside and Qu’Appelle South, could add 485,000 acres of development.
Westside was first proposed in the late 1960s and some infrastructure was even built.
Miller said this project is so extensive it couldn’t be considered just agricultural.
There would be three reservoirs and the project would draw water from Lake Diefenbaker and the North and South Saskatchewan Rivers.
The cost would be approximately $5,000 an acre.
“For a minor $2 billion we can build it,” Miller said.
The Qu’Appelle South project would come off the south arm of Lake Diefenbaker, where the Qu’Appelle River begins.
Miller said most of the land best suited to irrigation is quite a distance from this project area, resulting in an engineering challenge. Several options have been studied and the one most favoured includes a single large canal with a pressurized distribution system.
Total water requirements for these projects would be between 700,000 and 800,000 cubic dams.
“Is the water available?” Miller said. “My view is that there’s plenty of water to do these projects to the optimum limit.”
The question is entitlement.
“I do think the two projects have to submit (requests for licences) to Saskatchewan Watershed Authority and ask,” he said.
In addition to the agricultural benefits, he said there would be positive benefits to society as a whole and that’s why the province should invest.
In Alberta’s irrigated areas around Lethbridge and Taber, the average age per person is 28.3. That compares to the average age of 42 in the Rural Municipality of Marquis at the southern edge of the proposed Qu’Appelle South project.
Miller said planners should think about what irrigation could bring to rural areas. The populations in the Alberta areas grew in the last census and not because of oil activity.
With the Saskatchewan project, “this will really mean the survival of a lot of these areas.”
Miller admitted the projects are expensive and returns take 15 to 20 years to realize. That’s why the provincial government needs to be involved.
“This has to be funded by senior government,” he said. “The province would have to take the lead and they would be rewarded in great profits back.”
Farmers, meanwhile, would earn greater returns depending on which types of crops are grown on the irrigated land.
