Special Areas board asks the province for a seat at the water table
Irrigation expansion is being planned for the river the dry country depends on, and the dry country wants it in writing.
HANNA — The Special Areas Board has formally asked for a standing seat on the provincial panel studying irrigation expansion on the Red Deer River, arguing that the driest municipality in the province should not learn about water allocation from a news release.
The request, sent last week and released Tuesday, is written in the board's usual plain register. It does not oppose expansion. It asks for one thing: that any new allocation state, in writing, where the water comes from in a year like 2021.
The Special Areas exist because of water — carved out in 1938 when the homestead map met the actual rainfall. The board's chair put the history to work: "We are not predicting a drought. We are remembering one. There is a difference, and it is our job to know it."
The ministry acknowledged the letter and said panel membership will be settled by fall. Municipalities along the river, for their part, have so far said nothing at all — which in irrigation politics is its own kind of statement.
