The flooding in the Quill Lakes area is no longer just the problem of a few farmers, it is soon to become everyone鈥檚 problem. Every taxpayer has a stake in this.
This 鈥渄am鈥� proposal (the Kutawagan Diversion) by the Water Security Agency is just the beginning of a long and expensive mistake that is completely avoidable. It will cause countless expenditures long into the future, just to attempt to justify the original mistake. Recent developments affecting our immediate neighbours to the southeast should be our warning.
The State of North Dakota is still losing money over forced decisions made in dealing with the Devil鈥檚 Lake fiasco, with expenses by federal, state and local governments exceeding a billion dollars so far.
The US National Weather Service describes 鈥渢he new climate鈥� when talking about high water events in the North American Great Plains. Also, there are predictions from the US geological survey that this current flooding cycle may last for decades or longer. An article by Douglas Larson in the 2011 American Scientist magazine, is a must read for Saskatchewan people. The final paragraph sums up the tragedy perfectly. It states:
鈥淲ith the crisis unfolding, nature appears to have the upper hand, at least for now. Humans, seeking a technical fi x at this late hour, may have lost control of their environment 鈥� a lesson about the importance of pre-emptive action to forestall or reverse an impending environmental disaster. This may be particularly true now that unpredictable climate change appears likely across the globe. Having lost the proactive advantage, those working to solve the problem at Devil鈥檚 Lake have been reduced to a rearguard strategy. That is a position that may become familiar to people around the world in years to come.鈥�
We are those 鈥減eople鈥� at that crossroad, right now, here in this province. The opportunity to take pre-emptive action is right now! If we try and hold back unwanted volumes of flood water we are just copying the same mistakes made to the south of us, all over again. This will cost the province massive expenditures long into the future, and that should be everyone鈥檚 concern.
To prevent flooding, upstream and downstream, we need an immediate controlled release of water from the Quill Lakes now, and a commitment to maintain a constant water level at today鈥檚 elevation or lower!
From our flood committee鈥檚 investigations we have learned first-hand that the majority of the people along the Last Mountain Lake/Qu鈥橝ppelle waterway is concerned with flood issues already taking place. Fall rain events are mimicking the conditions that caused the flood in the spring of 2011.
Added to that scare is a 2.1-million-acre watershed area that has risen vertically 6.5 metres in 11 years and rising, with less than a metre to go to spill point. This is an opportunity to get downstream infrastructures fixed to reduce the threat of repeating flooding events. This will help everyone along the system from the Quills to Hudson Bay prepare for the 鈥渘ew climate鈥� realities. If the flooding continues at its current, or possibly at an increased rate, the man-made dam is a ticking time bomb.
There are enormous differences in long-term economic ramifications to the province and to local economies, depending on what is done right now! The current short-term fi x proposed by WSA, does not show the economic losses that will be immediate and lengthy due to an avoidable flood.
Estimates prepared by the Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics, and Bill Hodous Ramsey County Extension Agent, North Dakota State University, listed an annual market loss of almost $53 million. This adds up to direct and indirect losses of $194 million, distributed between the crop sector at $57 million, personal income sector $51 million, retail trade sector $43 million, and losses of 1,150 regional jobs.
This cost estimate does not show the immediate loss to property values, of lost lands already flooded in the Quill Basin of 58,000 acres crown pasture, hay, and recreational lands that devastated cattle and tourism, and 27,000 acres of private lands, estimated at $42 million.
As for the 60,000 acres of prime croplands, and every farmyard and acreage designated within the Quill Basin immediate flood plain, a decision to dam water will immediately render all of these lands worthless.
This creates an immediate further loss of another $150 million to local residents, investors, and lending institutions. The only value they retain is from the few crops they can produce before being flooded out. These people are left totally trapped with one stroke of a pen. Their history, their incomes and their retirement are erased. The annual losses will continue for decades after the water recedes which could mean a century or more. The taxpayers鈥� costs to building and rebuilding dams will multiply exponentially with each rise in water, just like it did in North Dakota.
All future flooding of the Quill Lakes are almost entirely avoidable, as proven by the studies already provided by consultants on this issue. Flooding for everyone is not necessary 鈥� a controlled release will protect downstream property owners as much as it will the Quill Lakes.
Who will be responsible for future losses from this decision? Will the people along the Last Mountain Lake- Qu鈥橝ppelle chain and the Province of Manitoba, pay for the costs of this dam, and all of the economic losses that accrue? If it鈥檚 a federal decision, will the federal government pay? Or will the Saskatchewan taxpayers be hung out to dry? The cost of this dam project is too much for everyone.
Submitted by
Kerry Holderness, chair of the Quill Lakes Flood Victims Organization
Jason Friesen, chair of the Quill Lakes Flood Impact Organization
