By Brittney Matejka

Irrigated farmers in the County of Forty Mile are starting to turn on the taps

May 14, 2018 | 2:31 PM

COUNTY OF FORTY MILE – Some irrigated farmers in the County of Forty Mile were able to access water for their fields over the weekend.

Terrence Lazarus with St. Mary River Irrigation District (SMRID) said most of their irrigators should be able to have water flowing by Friday.

“It’s been a slow, slow start over the past week,” he said. “We don’t have dates when actual people can get water or have gotten water, it’s as we fill the canals.”

Last year, SMRID had water in the canals for irrigation by April 23rd. Lazarus said they are delayed this year due to the backlog of snow and ice during the spring overland flooding.

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“There was lots of damage to the canal, lots of which needs to be repaired,” he said. “There was also a lot of routine maintenance we have to undertake before we flow water.”

Lazarus said some major repairs have already been made but they will have more repair work to due in the fall after irrigation season.

The major spring flooding caused significant damage to the SMRID’s 2000 km of canals and pipelines.

Lazarus said they have applied to the provinces Disaster Recovery Program and estimate they sustained $6 million in damage from the overland flooding.