2026 Top 50 Water Projects Report - Report - Page 10
TOP 50 WATER PROJECTS 2026
AGRICULTURE
THE LAKE DIEFENBAKER Irrigations Projects will irrigate up to 500,000
acres of land from Lake Diefenbaker, more than doubling the irrigable land
in Saskatchewan. Project construction is expected to occur approximately
over the next 10 years in three projects The first project is estimated
to cost $500 million and will include the rehabilitation of the existing
Westside irrigation canal system. This work will increase the amount of
irrigable land by 80,000 acres in the area. It is considered one of the most
shovel ready irrigation projects in the province with 90 per cent of the
current canal already in place.
Project 2 will see the further expansion and buildout of the Westside
Irrigation Rehabilitation Project (WIRP), adding an additional 260,000
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WATER C AN ADA’S TOP 50 WATER PRO JEC T S
2025 Rank: 2
Location: Southern Saskatchewan
Project Owner: Government of Saskatchewan/
Water Security Agency
Planning & Design (Westside Irrigation
Project): Prairie Engineering Partners JV
(Stantec and MPE Engineering)
Other Key Players: KPMG (economic analysis)
Substantial Completion: 2034
acres of irrigable land. Once fully built and developed, the project will
eventually see land made available for irrigation near Macrorie, Milden,
Zealandia, and as far north as Delisle and Asquith.
Project 3 will see the building of the Qu’Appelle South Conveyance
Project, adding an estimated 120,000 acres of irrigable land. Starting
at Lake Diefenbaker and going south, the project would run near the
communities of Tugaske, Eyebrow, down to Marquis and into Buffalo
Pound Lake. It would provide the Moose Jaw-Regina corridor and
southern Saskatchewan with a secure source of water for the next
century and act as a catalyst for significant industrial expansion in the
years to come. •
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
CREDIT
2
Lake Diefenbaker Irrigation Projects
$4,000,000,000
