Residents from Reid Lake petitioning irrigation proposal

A couple residing on Reid Lake will be off to the Saskatchewan Legislature this morning to voice their concerns against the potential irrigation project slated for their backyard.

Dwight and Carol Lemon will join the Calling Lakes Ecomuseum group in Regina as they deliver around 2,300 letters asking the provincial government to create a wetlands policy.

"We're also hoping to promote our cause, which is stopping the irrigation expansion out of the Duncairn Reservoir," Dwight said.

The Lemons have been residing at the lake for 12 years and live in the Sunridge development. Since finding out about the Water Security Agency's (WSA) prospective idea to increase the irrigation from the body of water this summer, the couple have done what they can to halt the idea.

"My wife Carol has been working on this full-time, she's been putting in eight hours a day," he said.

Dwight and others living on the water formed the Reid Lake Property Owners Board recently with representatives for all six developments along Duncairn Reservoir.

"They're deadset against it," the co-chair of the board said.

One of the tasks the newly founded board has taken upon themselves is doing their own economic study through a survey amongst the 250 owners of cabins situated around Duncairn Reservoir. They're calling on the WSA to do their own environmental impact assessment and a recreational economic impact study and share the findings.

"If they're serious about listening to our concerns, they would be doing that," he said.

"Politically, the group is a very strong previous Sask Party supporter. The party is just oblivious to what's going on. As far as we believe they have an agenda. The premier has an agenda to use water as a driving economic force and he doesn't care what happens to the resource or the wetlands."

NDP's Erika Ritchie is the opposition critic for the WSA and has been following the public consultation phase closely. The 54-year-old is the MLA for Saskatoon Nutana and was present at the Swift Current city council meeting last month in which the WSA shared a presentation about the irrigation project. 

The Lemons recently met with Ritchie and she helped them obtain some documents through the Freedom of Information Act.

"She's helping us out and steering us in the direction we need to go," he said.

Today's Calling Lakes Ecomuseum media event starts at 11 a.m. and Swift Current Online will continue to provide coverage of this story as it evolves.

Below is the hydrological report the WSA received that Dwight and Ritchie were able to obtain and share with Swift Current Online. 

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