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Part II
DESCRIPTION OF SURVEYED AREA
Irrigation Districts
The survey covered 0.5 million hectares of irrigated land within twelve irrigation districts in the province of
Alberta
(Figure 1). These irrigation districts are all located in the South Saskatchewan River Basin in southern
Alberta. The districts are located within an area extending from the border with the United States in the south to
approximately 51.5
Ε
N in the north, and from near the Saskatchewan border in the east to the foothills of the Rocky
Mountains on the west side of the province.
Irrigation District:
Western
Eastern
Bow River
Lethbridge Northern
St. Mary River
Taber
Raymond
Magrath
United
Mountain View
Leavitt
Aetna
Ross Creek
Calgary
Brooks
Medicine Hat
Lethbridge
Glenwood
Figure 1.
Alberta irrigation districts.
The majority of the fields surveyed (98%) are located in eight irrigation districts. The other surveyed fields were
distributed amongst four smaller irrigation districts. The Ross Creek Irrigation District was too small to have any
sites represented in the survey.
Western Irrigation District
is located in the north western area of the South Saskatchewan River Basin. It is one
of three irrigation districts with water from the Bow River. The water for this irrigation district originates the
furthest upstream from a diversion weir near Calgary. The infrastructure was established between 1904 and 1910,
with the first water drawn in 1907.
Eastern Irrigation District
has the largest land base and the second largest number of irrigated acres. All irrigation
water is diverted from the Bow River at the Bassano Dam. This is the furthest down stream of the three irrigation
districts with water from the Bow River. The first water was drawn in 1914.
Bow River Irrigation District
is located south of the Eastern Irrigation District. The water is also diverted from the
Bow River, in this case at the Caresland Weir. Infrastructure was established between 1909 and 1920.
9
Grinder, B.
2000. Irrigation in Alberta. Alberta, Agriculture and Food, Technology & Innovation Branch.
Lethbridge, Alberta. [Online] Available: http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/irr7197 [2
September 2009]