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Since 2020, over 58,000 acres of irrigation have been developed, the largest growth since the early 1980s. The Province says this is on track to achieve and exceed the goal of 85,000 acres in the Saskatchewan Growth Plan for 2030.
Part of that Growth Plan includes the Lake Diefenbaker Irrigation Project.
The Province recently awarded Prairie Engineering Partners, a joint venture from Stantec and MPE engineering firms the next planning and engineering design work for Westside Irrigation Rehabilitation Project (WIRP).
In March, Premier Scott Moe announced they would move ahead with constructing the early works of the first 90,000 acres of the Lake Diefenbaker Irrigation Projects (LDIP). The WIRP is the first part of the overall LDIP. It will optimize the existing infrastructure and develop new infrastructure from Lake Diefenbaker to the Ardath-Swanson area near Conquest to create 90,000 acres of irrigated land.
David Marit, the minister responsible for the Water Security Agency (WSA), says the government is committed to the project, and this is the next step in moving the Lake Diefenbaker Irrigation Projects to the construction phase.
"This project starts at the waters of Lake Diefenbaker but has the potential to create major benefits for all of Saskatchewan."
The engineering, design and engagement with stakeholders and Indigenous rights holders is expected to be done over the next year with major construction of the 90,000 acres being targeted to start in 2025 to 2026.
The Province notes that moisture is the main agricultural limitation in most areas, making irrigation development more appealing.
Future water use plans are being explored throughout the province, including at Duncairn Dam in South West Saskatchewan.
Arthur Ward, the acting executive director for Irrigation Saskatchewan says they (the WSA) are doing some exploratory work on the potential for new water allocation out of the Duncairn Reservoir.
He says that based on the modeling that's been done, there's a potential to add another 4000 acres of irrigation out of the reservoir, which is still well within the dams operating capacity.
"The surface area of that reservoir is 1527 hectares, or roughly 3773 acres. So when we talked about 4000 acre feet of water being made available possibly, that would impact that lake level about 12 1/2 inches now. That would happen if all of the water got pumped out all at once, and there was no inflow coming in. So, based on what is potentially going to be available it would be very hard to notice any difference in that reservoir level."
Ward points out the current depth of the reservoir is 14.8 metres or 48 feet deep at the dam.
"The current inflow is approximately one cubic metre per second and the current outflow is about 2.7 m3 per second. There isn't a lot going in or coming out right now. The irrigation season will be wrapping up in the next week or so, so after that, it would have no impact on reservoir level."
Each year, irrigators pay for a certain allotment of water, but they generally never reach their maximum use for the year.
He says even if you look at the Rush Lake hay flats (which is fed out of Swift Current Creek and in turn Duncairn Dam) they do flood irrigation and don't use their yearly water allotment.
"There is some irrigators along Swift Current Creek that also pump water out. So all of that allocation is taken into consideration before they consider adding more irrigation."
According to Ward, the irrigation allocation is not guaranteed, it's based on 7 out of 10 years of that water being available.
It has been a long time since we've seen any new irrigation allotment out of Duncairn, but with the drought in the South West over the last few years, there's a lot of added interest in it.
Over the years new technology has opened up for irrigators making their operations and water use even more efficient.
The Saskatchewan Water Security Agency is still in the process of doing exploratory work and will be reviewing the data from this growing season as they look at evaluating future options for Duncairn Dam.
To hear Glenda-Lee's conversation with the acting Executive Director for Irrigation Saskatchewan Arthur Ward click on the link below.