Grainswest - Spring 2022

Spring 2022 grainswest.com 39 with Alberta Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Economic Development. He agreed irrigation delivers strong economic value. “Because of the stability of irrigated agriculture, it supports a lot of food processing in the province, which is really an even more significant multiplier of GDP,” he said, and pointed to sugar beet and potato processing plants. “Regardless of what the weather does, we know those plants can be fed potatoes or sugar beets at a reliable rate, and that’s what drives that investment here.” According to the Alberta WaterPortal Society (AWPS), irrigation accounts for approximately 95 per cent of total water allocations for the agricultural sector in Alberta, yet it is used on less than six per cent of the province’s cultivated land. In southern Alberta, irrigation districts are responsible for delivering water to farmers. For the most part, water used for irrigation is diverted from rivers. Of the 13 districts, 11 rely on provincially owned diversion infrastructure. Two irrigation districts own and operate their own diversion infrastructure— the Eastern Irrigation District and United Irrigation District. Reservoirs are an integral part of Alberta’s irrigation system. They provide stability during times of flood by capturing water during high flow, and during droughts by storing water for when it’s most needed. Throughout the province, Alberta Environment and Parks owns and operates 11 reservoirs. An additional 41 off-stream reservoirs are owned and managed by the irrigation districts. A portion of water contained in the reservoirs is lost to evaporation and seepage from irrigation canals, also according to AWPS, making investment in technological improvements all the more important. These fixes reduce water loss as well as increase irrigation efficiency. THE MODERNZATION PROJECTS In the summer of 2020, the Government of Alberta approached the AIDA to discuss shovel-ready or near shovel-ready stimulus projects that could help kickstart the economy. Initially, eight of the districts were able to provide information on projects they could quickly submit, said David Westwood, general manager of St. Mary River Irrigation District (SMRID) and lead contact on the project. That number later expanded to 10. The initial deal was signed in December of 2020. Keeping Alberta’s irrigators involved is an important part of the expansion projects, said Westwood, as 70 per cent of the funding essentially comes from their pockets. Of the funding made available, 30 per cent is delivered in the form of a full grant from the Government of Alberta. An additional 20 per cent will come from the districts, and the remainder will be footed by CIB in the form of long-term, low-interest loans. “The loans will be repaid by the districts, so really the farmers, who provide the revenue to the districts to operate and maintain each district, will be paying 70 per cent of the capital costs of these projects,” said Westwood. Most of the modernization projects involve pipeline installations. In total, 92 modernization projects in 10 districts will receive funding. Four separate off-stream reservoir projects will also receive funding. All of the projects have identical financial repayment terms, but timelines for completion vary in reflection of where they stood in the planning stages at the time the program was announced. Projects must be complete by late spring of 2025, and reservoir projects must be complete by 2028. Westwood said the districts are on target to meet these deadlines. In fact, 11 of the 92 are already in stages of completion. Projects are not spread evenly among the districts. SMRID, for example, has 26 of the 92 modernization projects. Distribution is dependent on district size, existing infrastructure and how ready they were with modernization projects that fit the selection criteria, said Westwood. Each of the 10 irrigation districts involved will determine the breadth of new land to receive irrigation, and districts are limited in how much they can expand. In order to expand irrigated acreage, the districts must first make information “The farmers, who provide the revenue to the districts to operate and maintain each district, will be paying 70 per cent of the capital costs of these projects.” —DavidWestwood