- The agenda for the meeting was approved on motion by Craig Palmer and carried.
- Approval of the Minutes of the September 18, 2024 board meeting was adjourned until the next meeting.
Business Arising
- O&M Report and AIM Project Update:
Jason shared a slideshow of pictures taken over the last month of repairs & maintenance and pipelining activities. Jason reported on the status of each project as follows:
9 Mile & North (IRP) – Construction has officially started. Cody is working on meeting with Lexcon to determine if they can trench a portion of the project. Cody is also working with Syncor to arrange the directional drilling of the 4 road crossings.
Gravity Pressure Pipeline System (“GPS”) (AIM) – We are waiting to receive Stantec’s peer review and transient wave analysis report. Summit Valve (the Canadian distributor of Cal-Val) has arranged for John, Cody, Darin and Jason to attend a learning seminar at the Cal-Val factory in California. The trip will be from November 4-6. The New Zealand tour has also been arranged. John, Cody, Darin and Jason will be visiting the Central Plains Water Company in New Zealand on November 24-29.
New Dayton CPR Crossing (IRP 2393) – The bulk of the project was completed last Friday by CPR. The RID had equipment and men on standby to assist, but CPR and their contractor completed most of the work. We have to do some clean up and monitoring before the project is completely finished.
8-2 (Internally Funded Project) – This project will be completed in the 2025-2026 construction season. If we are able to finish the 9 Mile project earlier than expected, we will work on the 8-2 project.
Chin Chute Rehabilitation (IRP 2392) – We received our 2nd interim invoice from SMRID in the amount of $1,473,552. We have already paid them $548,544, which makes the total $2,161,199. Construction will continue into the 2025, but the chute should be operational for the 2025 water season.
Aerial Photos – The aerial photos should now be completed. We expect to receive the finished photos in late fall.
- Snowpack Report / Water Supply Forecast / RID Diversions:
The Board reviewed the most recent GOA reservoir report, GOA water supply forecast, the RID diversion report, the RID 2024 return flow report and the RID 2024 crop report. The Board was happy to see that reservoirs ended the season with more storage than expected.
- Irrican Update:
All three plants had various curtailments and breakdowns this year, which is resulting in lower revenue this year. We will start working on the year end in the next 2 months.
The office has been receiving annual bill payments. The early payment discount ends on October 31.
- Equipment Update:
Baskel Mechanical is in the process of finishing fixing and setting up our hydrovac unit. We are looking forward to having it operational for our construction season.
- Water Sharing Debrief
Jason attended the water sharing debrief in Calgary. It went well and everyone recognized the support of all parties to create the water sharing MOU’s.
New Business
- Directors’ Items:
No director items were presented.
- AIDA Executive Meeting Report:
John reported on the latest AIDA executive meeting he attended:
- AIDA has extra funds so they propose to lower their annual charge from $0.37 to $0.35 per acre.
- The AIDA annual conference is scheduled for February 3-5 at the Westin Conference Centre.
- Irrigation Council attended the meeting and noted that they want districts to be sustainable without funding from the Government.
- AEPA is interested in opening the Water Act and reviewing the following:
- Right sizing licenses by taking licenses away from irrigation districts and giving them to municipalities.
- Improving water license transfers
- Introducing volumetric pricing
- Breezy Bay Water Park – Corner Lake Inflatable Water Park Proposal:
Steve Scott and Jeffrey Birch from Breezy Bay Water Park presented a proposal to install an inflatable water park on Corner Lake. They would like to be operational for the 2025 season. The Board reviewed their proposed and asked several questions and express concerns about the project; however, the Board was happy the see potential economic growth within our district.
On motion made by Rod Wendorff and carried, the RID Board approves Breezy Bay Water Park’s proposal to install an inflatable waterpark at Corner Lake, subject to Breezy Bay providing an indemnification and meeting all RID requirements.
- Water Licenses Moved to DRAS
Jason reported that AEPA has asked that all water license holders transfer their licenses to the GOA’s Digital Record Assurance System (DRAS). Jason reported the RID licenses have now been moved to DRAS.
- Subsurface Irrigation System s:
Jason presented a request from an individual to install subsurface irrigation on his parcel. While the idea is intriguing, Jason noted several issues with the request including:
- The parcel does not have irrigation acres and the RID does not have permanent irrigation acres available;
- The RID does not have sufficient water delivery to the parcel for the proposal;
- The nearest location for water is the SMRID/RID main canal and a turnout would cost between $60-90K; and,
- An annual acre agreement is an option, but the parcel is in an area where annual acres are expected to be temporary, but due to their parcel size it does not qualify for permanent irrigation acres.
The Board shared Jason’s concerned and therefore do not approve the request.
- Next Meeting Date
The next meeting is set for November 20, 2024.
Motion to adjourn – There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 2:30 pm on motion by Craig Palmer.