FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –
SMRID Announces 50% increase in allocation for 2025 season
LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA, April 3, 2025 – Allocation for the 2025 season was set to 12 inches, from the farm gate, by the St. Mary River Irrigation District’s Board of Directors on April 2, 2025 during the organization’s Annual General Meeting (AGM).
Quotes:
“In 2024, our Board set aside emotion and made decisions based on reality and facts. Our initial allocation was set at 8 inches because that is how much water we could safely allocate at the time. Timely rains beginning in May allowed us to increase to 9 inches. We are very pleased that we were able to grow a very good crop and managed to accumulate 110,000 acre-feet of storage for the 2025 growing season. Our reservoirs look much better going into the new crop. Based on modelling, and storage and snowpack data, the Board is confident that the 12-inch allocation for 2025 is responsible and is in line with environmental realities.”
– George Lohues, Chairman, SMRID Board of Directors.
“To set allocation, our Board considers data and modelling provided by Alberta Environment and Protected Areas and Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation. Based on the reality of storage levels and the uncertainty of precipitation at the start of 2024, the Board set the initial allocation at 8 inches. Throughout the season, water usage and demand decreased dramatically thanks to timely precipitation across the district. We are relieved to be off to a very different start than in 2024. Combined* storage levels nearly doubled between 2024 and 2025.
– David Westwood, SMRID General Manager
“We are going to be busy again in 2025. We are pleased that Four Alberta Irrigation Modernization (AIM) projects were substantially completed in 2023/2024 bringing the total AIM Program projects completed to 19 of the 30 modernization projects. These pipeline projects have translated to some impressive efficiency gains across the district. Modernizing our conveyance is providing tangible and material benefits to water management.”
– David Westwood, SMRID General Manager
Quick Facts:
- The SMRID set the water allocation at 8-inches in April based on the available supply. This was raised to 9 inches on June 28, 2024, where it remained until the end of the season.
- Every inch of allocation not used equates to approximately 54,000 acre-feet of storage.
- Average on-crop use across the district in 2025 was 6.75 inches.
- At the end of the irrigation season in 2023, combined storage as of October 25, 2023 was 219,000 ac-feet and 503,650 acre-feet one year later on October 25, 2024.
- SMRID is the largest Irrigation District in Canada and North America. SMRID has over 2,000 km of canals and pipeline, which spans from Lethbridge to Medicine Hat and serves ~518,000 acres.
- Irrigated land within Alberta irrigation districts generates 28% of Alberta’s total Agri-food GDP.
- Annually, irrigation-related activities in Alberta’s irrigation districts generate $5.4 billion to
- provincial GDP, $3.2 billion in labour income, and support about 46,000 full-time equivalent [1]
More information:
Drought planning workshops, spearheaded by the Province took place in early 2024 with key water license holders (and interested parties) to discuss how to prepare for the upcoming water use season. Irrigation districts reviewed data modelled from South Saskatchewan River Operation Model (SSROM) which modelled supply and demand scenarios, by sub basin. Irrigation Districts committed to meet the restricted water use requirements of municipalities and industries in 2024.
AIM pipeline projects completed, to date from 2020 within the SMRID, have resulted in an estimated 21,900 acre-feet of water savings on an annual basis. Additionally, infrastructure improvements done by SMRID as well as on-farm efficiency improvements translate into 9,200 and 16,300 ac-ft of additional efficiency gains each year, respectively.
*Combined Storage includes SMRID’s internal reservoir storage and Headworks storage.
[1] Alberta Water Portal Society, February, 2022.