Mega drought shows the time is now for Meridian Dam

Who could have predicted that Vancouver, Kelowna, Calgary, Swift Current, Moose Jaw and Regina would be on water restrictions and/or boil-water advisories during the summer of 2021?

The drought of summer 2021 should be an awakening; the Hoover Dam in the U.S. was constructed during a drought period in the 1930s. Now is the time to revisit the proposal by the water experts of Western Canada – the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration – for the construction of the Meridian Dam; 65 miles downstream of Medicine Hat, it would provide a reservoir capacity of 3 million acre feet of water. That is an astounding 813.99 billion gallons of water which would be available for power generation, irrigation and recreation.

Recent announcements by both the Alberta and Saskatchewan governments to expand irrigation is a true testament to the water experts of Western Canada – PFRA.

Saskatchewan will be investing $4B at Lake Diefenbaker, adding 700,000 new acres of irrigation. Alberta, in 2020, has added 20,000 new acres of irrigation located in some of southern Alberta’s 13 irrigation districts.

Fifty-two years ago, the Meridian Dam was designed for better water management for both provinces.

Lake Diefenbaker presently contains 7.5 million acre feet of water. Old Man Dam upstream of Medicine Hat holds 400,000-acre feet of water.

PFRA designed and proposed the Meridian Dam (3 million acre feet) for both upstream and downstream advantages. Presently, during times of drought, irrigation in southern Alberta is restricted because of federal requirements regarding minimum water flow from one jurisdiction to another. Conversely, during times of flooding, the present lack of adequate water storage causes excess water to be discharged over spillways in five existing dams until it eventually reaches Hudson’s Bay. The Meridian Dam reservoir would capture this water for future use.

The main reason the Meridian Dam wasn’t built was the Crow’s Nest freight rate. However, on Aug. 1, 1995, the freight rate, which had secured the price to ship Western Canadian grains to port, was eliminated by the Liberal government of Jean Chretien. Why did provincial politicians not immediately build the dam? Why did they instead pay for a comprehensive pre-feasibility study that allowed them to appear to be engaged but really all they did was avoid supplying both provinces with another controlled water management system? These politicians are now enjoying the indexed pensions that we, the taxpayers, fund.

The design of the Meridian Dam is right, the time for this new infrastructure is now and the means of financing it is within reach by the use of a P3 model. If either the U.S.A. or China had such a perfect opportunity to expand irrigation within their boundaries, they would have constructed this dam decades ago. Bill Dearborn

Chairman, Friends of the Meridian Dam