Premier Danielle Smith Authorizes $140 Million for Southern Alberta Irrigation Canal Conversions

EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation RJ Sigurdson announced on Monday the approval of a $140 million capital funding agreement with four southern Alberta irrigation districts to modernize regional agricultural water delivery systems.

The investment, cost-shared between the Government of Alberta, the Canada Infrastructure Bank, and participating irrigation districts, will replace over 120 kilometers of open, seepage-prone earthen canals with high-density underground gravity pipelines across the St. Mary River, Bow River, Eastern, and Taber irrigation districts.

Saving 50 Billion Litres of Water Annually Agricultural engineering assessments indicate that converting open canals to sealed pipelines eliminates evaporative losses, canal bank seepage, and aquatic weed growth, returning more than 50 billion litres of water annually to river basins while increasing water pressure for high-efficiency pivot sprinklers.

"Southern Alberta's irrigation network is the agricultural powerhouse of our province, producing premium crops, specialty vegetables, and livestock feed that feeds families across Canada and the world," Premier Danielle Smith said in Lethbridge. "In the face of drought and river allocation pressures, this $140 million modernization guarantees water security for our producers, protects municipal drinking water supplies, and allows farmers to expand high-value irrigated acreage without increasing river withdrawals."

Economic and Value-Added Agribusiness Expansion Minister Sigurdson noted that reliable irrigation infrastructure has attracted over $2 billion in private capital investments to Southern Alberta's agri-food processing corridor, including automated potato processing plants, canola crushing facilities, and specialty pulse packaging hubs.

"Pipeline conversion allows producers to transition from flood irrigation to computerized variable-rate low-pressure sprinklers, cutting energy consumption and maximizing yield per drop of water," Sigurdson stated.

Irrigation district chairpersons and local municipal reeves praised the long-term infrastructure partnership, pointing to enhanced drought resilience and secured crop insurance protections for over 1.7 million irrigated acres across the region.