WID submits six ‘shovel-ready’ projects to province
By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Western Irrigation District (WID) has submitted six infrastructure projects to the provincial government for funding consideration.
In April, the government of Alberta requested municipalities and other organizations to submit information on proposed shovel-ready capital infrastructure projects that, if funded, would provide regional economic stimulus in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, WID, a not-for-profit supplying irrigation and municipal water regionally, submitted six projects to the office of the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Kaycee Madu.
“The big thing for us was making sure we had our shovel-ready projects submitted, brought to their attention, and ready to go, and making sure that we had all the landowners signed up and had everything ready to roll,” said David McAllister, WID general manager during a June 25 interview. “We could feasibly put something in the field as early as this summer.”
The projects include plans to enhance the existing WID canal network and to convert existing canals into pipelines, said McAllister. These upgrades would expand the area of downstream irrigation and would limit the amount of water lost from the distribution network through seepage.
Additionally, one of the projects is a proposal to connect Eagle Lake reservoir to the main WID canal system so that it could be used more actively for storage, said McAllister. This would result in improved water quality in the lake, to the potential benefit of its recreational users.
“Currently, Eagle Lake just fills with the surrounding areas’ runoff, a small channel into the north, and a small channel into the south,” said McAllister. “This would be bringing it onstream fully.
“Instead of just receiving water from the surrounding areas, by us turning it over more regularly from the canal, that would improve the water quality there.”
Another proposed project is for a Glenrose Canal spillway which, if constructed, would act to reduce the incidence of local flooding.
According to McAllister, if funded, the projects would provide $116 million of economic spin-off benefit to the local economy. The projects would also create jobs, including full-time employment of 135 people during construction, and the creation of 15 to 20 permanent, full-time equivalent positions, if all are approved.
“In terms of the economic benefits, that’s all contained within the local economy, because we work with local contractors and we procure locally, so that’s a significant economic spin-off benefit for the region,” said McAllister. “We employ local people.”
Since 2007, WID has invested over $140 million in its infrastructure, he said.
Wheatland County provided a letter of support for these WID shovel-ready projects for the submission on June 4, following a motion passed by council on June 2.
Besides the direct economic benefits, improvements to WID infrastructure would also benefit producers and residents across the region, said McAllister.
“These canals also serve not just the agricultural economy in the area, but we also provide raw water to the Wheatland Regional Corporation reservoir, which provides the water that goes up to Standard and Rockyford and down to Gleichen,” he noted.
“We’re really a part of the local community, and all the contributions we’re making as a not-for-profit, are for the benefits of our irrigators, our users and the communities we serve.”