Sask. residents left high and dry

Premier Scott Moe's government, through the Water Security Agency (WSA), is changing the focus on managing water resources from a better quality of life for all Saskatchewan people to using water as an economic driver.

The priority of irrigation development benefits only a select few and leaves the rest of us high and dry.

The lack of concern for the environment, drinking water for thousands of Saskatchewan residents and tourism, including recreational use of our reservoirs, affects all of us.

In the spring of 2023, the Water Security Agency identified the potential for a significant increase in water allocation for irrigation from Duncairn Reservoir, supporting the Saskatchewan government's 2030 Plan for Growth.

The Duncairn dam was built in 1942 by the PFRA and formed a good-sized reservoir, known as Reid Lake. Its purpose was to provide water storage and flood control in the Swift Current Creek.

Development for large irrigation projects (Rush Lake, Herbert and Waldeck) occurred during the 1950s, whereas development of smaller individual irrigation projects occurred in the 1970s. In 1948, Duncairn Reservoir was designated a migratory bird sanctuary by the federal government.

The Swift Current Creek basin has had a moratorium on new water allocations since 1981 due to supply constraints in the southwest.

Water Security's own studies with the proposed additional irrigation show that the water in the reservoir will be drawn down 62 per cent from full capacity to the Conservation Drawdown Limit, (CDL) one out of every two years. This could result in winterkill of the fish. At the CDL, irrigation would be terminated.

The flow of water to the City of Swift Current would continue, but at what quality?

Citizens of Saskatchewan should understand we cannot allow this expansion of irrigation to proceed without consideration of the effects on the environment including the fishery and migratory birds, the threat to drinking water supply for the City of Swift Current and the preservation of the recreational use of Reid Lake for future generations.

Dwight and Carol Lemon,

Reid Lake