Special Areas requests for water

[cakadu]

For any of you that are living near the Red Deer River or it's tributaries, I would encourage you to get out to the Special Areas meetings being held across the area. Special Areas has applied for permitting to take 76.5 billion litres of water out of the Red Deer River annually. People really do need to be informed about this so that feedback can be given.

They want to use some of the water for irrigation and I am going to the meeting in Red Deer tonight at 7:00 at the Black Knight Inn to find out what crops they want to grow with this irrigation. Why would they want to grow more crops that they cannot get the costs of production on now? That would make for some very expensive crop indeed.

This proposal has been in the works for a number of years and people need to be aware of it.

[farmers_son]

When you see the tremendous flows in the Red Deer river these past weeks I struggle to see why anyone would be concerned about diverting a very small fraction of that water to Special Areas to aid in the economic survival of that area of the province.

Had the proper water works been in place to capture those excessive river flows, not only would we have been providing a valuable renewable resource for dryer areas of the province but we could have reduced flooding downstream.

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't four people die as a result of the recent floods? All that water just wasted when it could have serving as an economic driver of the rural areas of the province off of the QE2 corridor. We have to find ways that all parts of the province can share in the Alberta advantage, not just those who are fortunate enough to live between Calgary and Edmonton. Irrigation certainly is one those ways. If I had a concern it was the project should be expanded to double the amount of irrigation as there then could be even more benefit.

[blackjack]

...well said farmers_son...

[silverback]

With the big cash coming in from the gas industry and the debt supposedly gone in alberta, I agree that now would be the time to start a few mega-projects to start controlling the water that does fall at times in this province. What vision there was many years ago to set up dams and canals. Look at the lucky individuals who have benefited from having irrigation rights. A few more could be so lucky!

I suppose it would be tough to convince people west of the #2 to allow some dams to be set up on $5000/acre land (or more)

[silverback]

The diversion of water from the Red Deer if it takes place will have require an environmental impact assessment, and likely a hearing in front of the NRCB.
My one comment is that the eastern portion of Alberta is falling by the wayside as far as development goes due to a lack of water, the population is declining etc. Water can work wonders and if sharing some of it at no real negative effect to other Albertans can help to sustain a large area of the province, I say what is the problem ?

[cakadu]

I'm not saying it is wrong nor that we shouldn't do it. In order to make a decision, people need to be informed. Yes, this year we have tremendous water volume, but that has not been the case for the past several years. Also, had we not had all of this record rainfall, we would have been as low or lower in volume than in the previous years.

I would ask you to consider these questions, which were brought up in discussions at the meeting last night.

From a social perspective, is it the lack of water that is taking people away from these areas? Is it the reason that kids are leaving the farm, or is it because there is relatively little money to be made in farming. Look at WoolyBear's post regarding the OECD evaluations in the next 10 years. Does it make economic sense to pay to irrigate some 20,000 acres (which land amounts could be owned by several people individually out there) for crops that producers are not able to make money on already? Now, if they were going to grow specialty crops with the irrigation, then that would be another kettle of fish entirely.

It is going to reap an economic benefit of 70 cents for every dollar spent. That means that the shortfall in return is going to have to come from somewhere and likely the taxpayers pocket. Smart growth principles tell you that if it is going to cost more to maintain the infrastructure than what will be generated, then perhaps you shouldn't undertake it. Yes, the province is awash in money now, but will that always be the case?

The system is going to cost $3.1 million per year to operate with no clear indication of where the operating money is going to come from - at least not that I have seen yet.

What will this do for future demands on the river and the water it carries? We also have proposed pipelines in the works for areas to the north and to the south of us. How much can we allocate on top of having to live up to the allocation agreements that 50% of the flow must go to the South Saskatchewan to go to other provinces?

Transporation is another issue. People want to be near transportation corridors to keep costs down. That is one significant factor in the Peace not being developed any more than it has been.

What about stocking rates for livestock? It seems to me that the figure is 12 cows per section out there - that isn't likely going to change. If you develop confined feeding operations, dairies, hog barns etc., then the demands for water really increase. Given the opposition in recent years to CFO's, particularly hog operations, is that even feasible for these areas?

I would encourage you to read "Water" by Marq de Villiers as it is a real eye opener to global water. Sandra Postel also has some very thought provoking books out - Rivers for Life, Last Oasis (water scarcity) and Pillars of Sand (which is about the inability to sustain irrigation).

Now, if we stopped the practice of injecting water into oil and gas wells, then that would free up a great deal of water that would remain in the hydrological cycle.

[cakadu]

One or two other points to ponder. How long will it take to reap the economic benefit? We will see that benefit if all goes according to plan and to the models, which always work in theory. There are two scenarios that could evolve. The first being the best scenario and that would be that it would become attractive for people to move there. That in and of itself could create long-term challenges in that they would once again find themselves looking for water - what happens then? The other scenario would be at the other end of the spectrum and that would be that even with water the area does not develop significantly in the foreseeable future. How then does it pay for itself or reap any real benefit?

Is the situation being faced out there really significantly different that the situation being faced by most rural areas? Agriculture development is not positively correlated with rural development. As fewer farmers own more of the available land in an area, rural development often declines. How many producers in the so-called have areas of the highway II corridor are encouraging their kids to stay on the land? How many young people are staying in rural areas?

I would ask how many of you would move to that area if there were water aplenty?

[cakadu]

All the questions you have referred to would have to be answered as part of the water diversion process.

As far as who would relocate to the areas in question, it would depend on what industry could benefit from locating there. Given the cost, availablilty and pressure on land uses in the corridor, I would suspect that some value added industry could locate in the east central portion of the province if water was available.

[cakadu]

Linda, I am sure that many of us asked the same questions with regard to the cost of irrigating a huge portion of the province. After touring several municipalities in the south, I became informed and realized that without irrigation many areas of our province would be a virtual wasteland, likely the same can be said for east cenral AB if they can't access more water.

[cakadu]

I would suggest that anyone interested in learning more about this proposal can log onto:

www.specialareas.ab.ca and check out the entire project. It is very informative and detailed.