Water will again flow freely into Eagle Creek near Herschel, Sask., following a decision by the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority to force Berny Wiens to dismantle one of his dams.
Wiens, a former Saskatchewan agriculture minister, is required to create a three-metre wide hole in one of two dams on the site.
The main dam, first created in 1935 and later approved for irrigation for Wiens’s father in 1970, received approval to operate for this year on the condition that an engineering analysis be done.
Don Dill of the watershed authority noted recent changes had been made to the two dams by Wiens to irrigate his market garden and create a reservoir without watershed authority approval.
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“If this had been done properly in the first place, this would have been done,” said Dill of the required engineering drawings.
He said his department will regularly monitor water flows.
The authority ruled that the main dam did not affect water flowing downstream.
The other dam, which diverted water into a marshy area, was ordered opened by July 10 to maintain flows into Eagle Creek for cattle farmers such as Frank Blair, who complained about the dams last year.
Both Blair and Wiens are unhappy with the decision, said Dill, who added they now have a month to file appeals with the water appeal board.
In a separate dispute between the two farmers, Wiens agreed through mediation to make a charitable donation to the Crisis Nursery of Saskatoon. An assault charge stemming from a Dec. 7 altercation on Blair’s farm was withdrawn in court.
