Water security in Special Areas and near Acadia Valley getting a look

Months after officials promised a major irrigation agreement in southern Alberta might only be a first step, new work will study water security in Special Areas and near Acadia Valley.

The municipality north of Cypress County and Medicine Hat on the Red Deer River has been studying the formation of a new irrigation district since the 1980s.

Last week, the M.D. of Acadia, Agriculture Alberta and the federal government’s Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) announced a new agreement to study the potential to store and deliver water across the vast, arid land base in east-central Alberta.

“This feasibility study will help us determine if expanding irrigation is possible, which could lead to even more production in our province,” said Alberta Agriculture Minister Devin Dreeshen in a statement.

No dollar amounts were attached to the release, but work will advance completed feasibility studies done by the M.D. of Acadia in 2005 and updated in 2019 regarding storing water off the Red Deer River and delivering it for local crop production.

It states that between 13,000 and 27,000 acres could be irrigated through a system costing between $74 million and $138 million, depending on the size, but also states government grants would be required to make the economics work.

“Irrigation would bring major economic benefits to our whole region, and to producers in it and would increase water security while enhancing recreational opportunities,” said Reeve Peter Rafa of the M.D. of Acadia.

Special Areas board chair Jordon Christianson also said securing more water is vital for economic development in the vast region that has low population.

“Securing a reliable supply of water is critical to creating new opportunities in the Special Areas region, from increasing crop and cattle production to mitigating environmental challenges resulting from drought and climate change,” he said.

In October, the province, the CIB and eight irrigation districts announced an $815-million cost share agreement to potentially add 250,000 acres of irrigated land through expanding existing districts.

That includes new reservoirs and Rattlesnake Lake, near Bassano, Deadhorse Coulee, near Vauxhall, and Chin Reservoir, on the St. Mary’s River irrigation district.

Money would also fund a major program to transform canal systems into buried pipeline network, thereby reducing evaporation and leakage, making more water available for delivery from existing allocations.

The M.D. of Acadia first formally proposed irrigation project feed from the Red Deer River several years ago and received “pending” water allocations to supply a 56,000cubic metre reservoir in 2006, just as a moratorium on new leases in the South Saskatchewan River basin was brought in to force. The Red Deer joins the South Saskatchewan just across the provincial boundary in Saskatchewan.

It’s not the first time Alberta Agriculture has explored ways to mitigate dry conditions along the AlbertaSaskatchewan boundary.

Ten years ago the Ministry and the Special Areas board spent $1 million to study the feasibility of building 120 kilometres of pipeline between Stettler to Hanna.

It would divert high, springtime river flow on the Red

Deer River into a natural creek systems that runs south to Dinosaur Provincial Park and to near Oyen.