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The Province has released an Economic Analysis for the Westside Irrigation Rehabilitation Project (WIRP), the first part of the overall Lake Diefenbaker Irrigation Projects.
The Minster Responsible for the Water Security Agency David Marit says the KPMG LLP analysis shows a $5.9 billion increase in Gross Domestic Product.
"It talks about just under $6 billion in GDP over the next 50 years, and generating over 30,000 jobs, and those are construction jobs of just under 10,000 over the lifespan of the project. So, there will be tax revenues for the province here as well of upwards of $770 million."
Marit says the expansion in irrigation opens the opportunity to increase production and crop diversification that will bring in additional jobs.
He noted there's a young family in the area that rents land and grows carrots on a quarter section of land and has 13 employees, while another individual has three quarters of potatoes and he has eight full time employees.
"Obviously we see great opportunities in growth around that as well and I think we're going to continue to see that because of food security, because of opportunities of growth there and utilizing the water that Diefenbaker was meant to do."
When Diefenbaker was constructed it was designed to irrigate 500,000 acres, Saskatchewan currently has around 100,000 acres of irrigation.
The province notes that the overall GDP impact will increase significantly when factoring in the potential value-added benefits over a 50-year period with a direct connection to expanding irrigated acres and value-added processing investments.
He adds the Province continues to discuss the project with the federal government,
"We are hopeful they will come as a funding partner as this project is a major economic benefit to the Canadian economy and our country's food security."
The engineering and design of the WIRP is moving forward with the engineering firms of MPE and Stantec as the joint venture Prairie Engineering Partners.
The Lake Diefenbaker Irrigation Projects are made up of three distinct projects: the Westside Rehabilitation, Westside Expansion, and the Qu'Appelle South Water Conveyance Project.
To hear Glenda-Lee's conversation with the Minster Responsible for the Water Security Agency David Marit click on the link below.