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The Water Security Agency hosted a meeting in Swift Current, offering some informational sessions for people to learn more about irrigation at the Duncairn Reservoir.
Patrick Boyle, spokesperson for the WSA, and other officials from the agency, hosted the session at the Paliser Pavilion in Kinetic Park. Various experts were present to address the concerns they have heard over the last two years from the local community regarding the possibility of expanding irrigation access at the reservoir.
"We're looking at just sharing some information about Duncairn and the irrigation and looking at that potential expansion project here that we've been discussing for the last couple of years," said Boyle.
Close to 70 people attended the meeting, with members of the Duncairn Irrigation Expansion Cabin Owners Group showing up as well. Co-chair of the group, Dwight Lemon, was pleased with the session and thought the group's concerns were recognized and understood.
"We had a positive conversation with the Water Security Agency employees on the consequences of the proposed expansion of irrigation out of Duncairn," said Lemon. "I felt walking away that we had had a good two-way conversation."
Lemon wants to further the conversation regarding the drawdown limit at the reservoir. Originally, the limit was set at 38 per cent capacity under a moratorium that restricted further irrigation expansion in 1980. The proposed irrigation expansion looks to utilize that current maximum for water drawn from the lake.
Lemon beleives that it needs to be adjusted to properly account for the modern usage of the lake.
"We did discuss that and we're hoping that they will agree to a new line on the reservoir," said Lemon. "We're not sure where that line might be, but it would become the new irrigation drawdown limit."
The new line would establish a happy limit not only for the cabin owners, but for irrigators and the City of Swift Current, which draws its water from the reservoir.
The Cabin owners have been staunchly opposed to an expansion of the irrigation for crops out of the reservoir since 2023. They are worried that the proposed plans would not appropriately consider the impacts on the wildlife, the water levels at the reservoir, and the consequences for people who have built their cabins at the reservoir.
Lemon would like to see a meeting in the future with the WSA and other involved parties to discuss a solution that would resolve the group's concerns. He is glad that this time, his concerns weren't waved aside.
"It's the first time we've had that conversation with them (about the possibility of a new limit)," said Lemon. "Very positive, but that was the people who were representing WSA. They're the employees, so it will remain to be seen whether the management of WSA is receptive to that idea, and whether the Ministry of Agriculture and the Minister in charge of Water Security Agency is willing to negotiate that as well."
Another concern that Lemon still has is the fact that there is no enforcement of the drawdown limit. He did confirm that the WSA unveiled a new system that will track how much water is utilized in all new irrigation systems.
"What are you going to do to actually enforce the limits that are drawn?" said Lemon. "That's the big question mark."
He is also looking to get another bathymetric mapping done of the reservoir. This process maps the bottom of the lake bed, providing a look into the underwater topology of the area.
"They took the cheapest tender and basically, the bathymetric mapping that they received back doesn't do the job," said Lemon. "They spent a bunch of money and didn't get the results."
One of his first priorities would be organizing a restructuring of the current canal system.
"So that it's not leaking as much water as it is," said Lemon. "Let's be more efficient with what we're doing, and if we're more efficient with what we're doing, then maybe there is more water to be used. There are a lot of inefficiencies in the system, currently."