Sask. organization holds consultation on Buffalo Pound Lake's water supply

The Wascana Upper Qu'Appelle Watersheds Association held a public consultation this week in Pense, Sask. with an ominous theme: Buffalo Pound Water — is there enough?

Buffalo Pound Lake supplies a quarter of Saskatchewan's population with its household and drinking water needs. Included under that umbrella are the cities of Regina, Moose Jaw and surrounding areas.

The question is whether there is enough water to meet the demands of growing populations, nearby potash mines and agriculture well into the future.

"We wanted to look at what the projections are for water demand caused by population growth in the cities of Regina and Moose Jaw and surrounding communities, potash especially and agriculture, irrigation mostly," said Fred Clipsham, who organized the meeting.

"We wanted to see what the projections are going to be (year 2060) and whether it's enough water coming down from Buffalo Pound to meet that demand," he said.

Clipsham says the conclusions say yes but there are variables.

Losing ground

"The water is there depending on its ability to flow down a natural channel that links Lake Diefenbaker with the top of Buffalo Pound." 

That channel is 92 kilometres long. 

"Some of that is subject to a lot of erosion, so if you try and push too much water down that channel, the banks will collapse and you're actually going to choke off the amount of water that comes to Buffalo Pound," Clipsham explained. 

An eyewitness to the effects of erosion is Jerry Taylor, who farms northwest of Moose Jaw in the Qu'Appelle valley.

"We're losing two feet of bank in spots a year, we're at the point where we may have to move bins and buildings," said Taylor, who at the meeting produced before-and-after pictures of the damage to his land.

Taylor says, as a kid, he swam and boated on the Qu'Appelle river which was then described as slow meandering stream. Taylor said he was told by a Stantec engineer last summer the river cannot handle flows it's being subjected to.

He didn't like all the answers he got at Wednesday's gathering but he feels at least he got people talking.

"The water is definitely needed where it's supposed to go and I would hate to see industry suffer because of it but there are other ways. I realize money is tight and its going to take a while but it's a start, maybe not in my lifetime I don't know."

Keeping the channel clear

Clipsham was pleased with Wednesday's meeting, which left him asking another question.

"The future of that conveyance channel and what we can do is keep an eye on whether the Water Security Agency is doing what they say they need to do in keeping that channel clear, clear of debris, clear of silt, clear of weeds."

"The biggest demands are going to come from potash if all these mines that are on the books go ahead, and I don't know if they will," he said. "The population growth won't be a big deal." 

Even though Regina's population has grown by 60,000 people over the last decade, Clipsham says water conservation programs have balanced out consumption.

"The stores stopped selling the big-flush toilets, you can only get a low-flush toilet now so water conversation has really kicked in in the past while, so that growth of 60,000 people yeah, but we're not using the same amount of water per capita."