Province to study possible irrigation upgrade projects
By Lethbridge Herald on September 20, 2025.
Lethbridge Herald
The Alberta government is investigating the possibility of building a dam on the Belly River and making improvements to the Waterton and St. Mary Headworks System.
The province has hired WSP Canada to conduct the study which includes a proposed reservoir five kilomentres northwest of Mountain View in Cardston County on the Belly River.
Mountain Wiew is located west of Cardston.
The province says the reservoir could improve water security while providing drought and flood resiliency and supporting the aquatic ecosystem.
WSP Canada will also determine if opportunities exist to improve the canal between the Waterton and St. Mary reservoirs and how water flow could be improved between them.
The Agriculture and Irrigation department of the Alberta government owns and operates 340 kilometres of irrigation headworks canals, more than 80 dams and four pumping stations along with flood protection berms and dikes.
Irrigation districts relying on the Belly River for water include Magrath, Mountain View, Raymond, St. Mary River, Taber and United.
WSP Canada is a global engineering firm, working in more than 100 sectors, which has more than 200,000 projects on the go around the world.
10-9
It will be interesting to see/hear what our Indigenous Peoples would have to say about a dam on the Belly River. Will Indigenous rights be respected?
Once again, I wonder where the water will come from (as we already struggle to fill existing reservoirs). And though I asked our deadbeat Water Czar, MLA Neudorf, who is modelling water flows in the south, he didn’t answer.
Building reservoirs will be another expensive boondoggle.