The Water Security Agency is going through the process of putting the Westside Irrigation Rehabilitation Project (WIRP) through a provincial environmental assessment.
The provincial release on Monday described it as a "proactive move".
"The Water Security Agency is committed to ensuring the environment is protected as this project develops through the provincial environmental assessment process," Minister Responsible for the Water Security Agency Daryl Harrison said. "We are committed to engaging with rights holders and stakeholders in an open and transparent way and this formalizes the work that we have started."
The assessment will collect baseline data to be put into a proposal, where plans and designs will then be tabled to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment. After that the process will turn to gathering feedback from groups and people associated with the project, allowing these rights/stakeholders the chance to give their input on the design.
Irrigation Saskatchewan shared a statement on how they are pleased with the government's commitment to the project, and doing it the right way, with the upcoming assessment. Chair David Bagshaw touted the group's members as not only producers, but stewards of the land they farm, and that they "believe in responsible irrigation expansion while protecting the environment."
One of three distinct projects, the rehabilitation plan and design were done by Prairie Engineering Partners who partnered with engineering firms Stantec and MPE. At the time similar baseline work for environment assessments were announced that will see field work for both aquatic and terrestrial components, including water quality and quantity according to the release.
The government shared some updated figures with the release.
"WIRP has the potential to add 100,000 acres of irrigated land. A recent analysis of the 100,000 acre project was done by KPMG LLP. It shows an increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $5.9 billion while generating over 30,000 jobs (person years of employment) and 9,500 jobs during the construction phase."
Previous estimates for the expanded and modernized irrigation systems tabled up to 90,000 acres of land.