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Irrigation talk sees county drowned in complaints

Lac Sante residents have been calling the County of St. Paul to express their concerns about the possibility of an irrigation system being installed on the County of Two Hills’ side of the lake, County of St.
While residents have expressed concern that a farm operation has expressed interest in drawing water out of Lac Sante for irrigation purposes, Alberta Environment has
While residents have expressed concern that a farm operation has expressed interest in drawing water out of Lac Sante for irrigation purposes, Alberta Environment has clarified that there has been no application made yet for such a project.

Lac Sante residents have been calling the County of St. Paul to express their concerns about the possibility of an irrigation system being installed on the County of Two Hills’ side of the lake, County of St. Paul CAO Sheila Kitz told council at its Oct. 11 meeting.

At the meeting, she said she was disappointed that the County of St. Paul was not consulted about any plans for the lake that it shares with the County of Two Hills. The division’s councillor, Maxine Fodness, said she received 15 calls from ratepayers in two days, while county staff also fielded calls. Concerned residents believed that there was an application with Alberta Environment for an irrigation system to draw water from the lake.

Kitz asked council if there was any interest in sending a letter to Alberta Environment, expressing the County’s support for farming, but its concerns about taking water out of a local water body for farming.

“There’s no way people are going to be in favour of that,” agreed Reeve Steve Upham.

Coun. Glen Ockerman said he wasn’t sure about what the letter should say, given that right now, Alberta Environment hadn’t made any decisions about the matter.

“I don’t know, what do you support . . . recreation or food?” he asked.

“There’s better places to get water,” said Upham, with Kitz noting the river is nearby as well.

Ockerman and Coun. Frank Sloan said they both would want to know how much water would be diverted for the irrigation system, with Upham suggesting that a letter be sent to Alberta Environment, asking for the County of St. Paul to be included in any discussion around diverting water from the lake.

Council agreed to have administration send the letter.

Following the meeting, Kitz said she had been in contact with Alberta Environment, which had clarified that there was no application as of yet about an irrigation system. There had been a pre-application, but Alberta Environment had indicated that more work had to be done before an application could be considered, she said.

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