$815M in upgrades coming to SA irrigation districts

By COLLIN GALLANT on October 10, 2020.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

Alberta and Ottawa’s infrastructure bank say they are making a “generational investment” to expand cropland in southern Alberta’s irrigation districts, and officials say more is still to come.

Districts will undertake more than $815 million worth of capital projects, including the creation of four off-stream reservoirs, thanks to a partnership that states 200,000 irrigated acres could be added.

All parties declined to discuss particulars of the reservoirs, but St. Mary’s Irrigation District officials said at least one would be on its system. The News has learned others could be located near Vauxhall, Chestermere and Bassano.

Eight irrigation districts will benefit from modernization upgrades cited in the announcement, made Friday at the Big Four Centre in Calgary with Premier Jason Kenney, several ministers, area MLAs and federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna teleconferencing in.

“In a tough year, ag has been a real bright spot, but we can do so much more,” said Kenney, before outlining the partnership that will see Alberta’s government spend $245 million, while the irrigation districts will chip in $103 million directly and receive $407 million in loans from the Infrastructure bank.

The money would be lent at a 35-year term at 1 per cent interest, said Kenney.

Last week, Ottawa announced plans to ramp up activity from the infrastructure bank that it says will spur private sector investment in large infrastructure programs.

McKenna said $1.5 billion over three years will be delineated for irrigation, meaning just one-third the total has been assigned.

It would strengthen farms, food security and the Alberta economy, she said. “There is a global recognition for the need to smart, forward-thinking spending in infrastructure.”

Alberta Agriculture Minister Devin Dreeshen called the investment “generational nation-building infrastructure” that will expand value-added processing in the south region.

He wouldn’t reveal more project details, citing some confidentiality issues.

“The financing is there and the engineering work is all done, but specifics are to be determined,” said Dreeshen, whose office believes immediate job creation would be about 1,300 for construction and 6,800 in food processing once complete.

The goal is to secure water supply and support acres for cash and specialty crops that feed into provincial plans to boost value-added food processing. That is a main leg of a provincial plan to diversify the economy, and Dreeshen said areas in south-central Alberta are already advancing the effort.

Along the Highway 3 corridor, potatoes, mint, beans, lentils and even hemp have been heavily promoted.

David Westwood is the general manager of the St. Mary’s Irrigation System, and attended the announcement.

“We’re very, very excited about what this will mean for SMRID and all the districts,” he said. “We submitted a significant amount of projects and a significant amount were accepted.”

He said 26 separate modernizations will see the SMRID convert about 150 kilometres of open canals to underground pipelines over the next five years.

That will comprise most of the remaining open canal laterals, not including the main canal, and work would be “evenly spread” west to east across the system, he said.

He declined to provide details on reservoir expansion, which has an eight-year time frame, as nearby landowners had not been fully briefed on the announcement or details.

Eastern Irrigation District director Jason Hale also attended, and said the announcement will benefit entire regions and builds on a strong record of the districts to manage water.

“It’s a recognition of all that users have done,” he told the News. “And there’s so many benefits.”

The EID and other districts will also undertake $250 million on 56 capital modernizations, such as converting open canals to buried pipe. That sort of work prevents water loss through leaks, spills and evaporation, meaning more water can be delivered without increasing allocation taken from rivers.

Hale confirmed that the Eyremore Reservoir proposal – highlighted at the EID’s annual general meeting – is not among projects being finalized.

“That’s much longer term and a huge undertaking,” he said.

That project, to build a second reservoir near the Bassano Dam, is estimated to cost more than $1 billion.

The Alberta Irrigation District Association presented Dreeshen with a report in August 2018 that laid out 12 potential reservoir expansions, estimated costs and potential benefits.

On that list, acquired by the News, only six projects have estimated budgets under $500 million. They include work on the Chin Reservoir, Deadhorse Coulee (near Vauxhall), at Delacour (near Chestermere) and Snake Lake (near Bassano).

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