Dear Irrigators,
Below is the most recent information regarding the water supply situation, based on the latest Irrigation Water Supply Forecast supplied by Alberta Agriculture & Irrigation (AG&I).
The St. Mary Headworks Reservoirs, made up of the Waterton, St. Mary and Ridge reservoirs, are sitting at 97% of Irrigation Storage FSL (Full Supply Limit) with 471,000 acre-feet of storage. SMRID Reservoirs have made gains in storage since our April update and are all within SMRID’s operating curve and contain 306,000 acre-feet of storage, or 92% of our Irrigation FSL.
Akamina and Many Glacier are showing no Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) at the elevation of the pillow. The Flat Top Snow Pillow dropped significant throughout June, although SWE remains between the upper and lower quartiles, with some modest additional runoff expected in the coming weeks.
The Board of Directors has decided to raise the water allocation to 16 inches at the farm gate for the 2026 irrigation season, effective immediately.
We will continue to communicate with our irrigators in the coming months and provide scheduled monthly updates throughout the growing season. The next email update is tentatively scheduled for July 31.
Sincerely,
David Westwood
General Manager
St. Mary River Irrigation District