Alberta invests $19 million to update irrigation infrastructure

EDMONTON – The Alberta government is investing $19 million through the 2024 budget to upgrade irrigation infrastructure.

The funding will go to the Irrigation Rehabilitation Program and is a $5 million increase over the previous year. It is intended to help irrigation districts update their water infrastructure and allow them to do more within their current water allocation, a release said.

The cost-shared Irrigation Rehabilitation Program helps irrigation districts modernize their infrastructure to deliver water, the release said. Irrigation supports about 1.5 million acres of crop production, including producers who manage more than 290,000 acres of specialty crops. Within Alberta’s 11 irrigation districts, irrigated acres produce 28 per cent of the provincial agricultural gross domestic product.

The Irrigation Rehabilitation Program was established in 1969 and is cost-shared between the Alberta government (75 per cent) and irrigation districts (25 per cent).

Alberta’s irrigated land in the irrigation districts (1.5 million acres) represents more than 70 per cent of all irrigated acres in Canada, the release said.