tank: go pound sandbars, saskatoon, as province shrugs at river woes
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maybe saskatoon has reached the end with the south saskatchewan river.
given the river’s current depleted state and the proliferation of sandbars, it’s time to embrace the south saskatchewan sand dunes. instead of jet skis, kayaks and paddle boards, we should envision dune buggies and camel rides.
but the situation is actually quite serious — and not just because we may never again see the prairie lily chugging up and down the river as a signature sign of a saskatoon summer.
the riverboat’s owners wanted to sell the craft at the end of this summer and retire after a dozen seasons of operation. but the low water level and the sandbars make it too difficult for the popular tourist attraction to navigate the river.
the ndp held a news conference this week to highlight the issues created by the river’s condition, including the possible cancellation of the labour day fireworks festival.
but it’s far more serious. the meewasin valley authority, the same agency for which premier scott moe’s saskatchewan party government gutted provincial funding, warned of safety issues last week since the sandbars may appear to be deceptively stable and the drop-off next to some may be deeper than they look.
and saskatoon mayor cynthia block questioned the ability of emergency services to rescue people in distress on the river.
“it’s not just recreation, it’s not just commerce, it’s about safety,” block told reporters following her first state of the city speech wednesday. block said she is working “urgently” with the province and speaking to the water security agency, the provincial body that regulates water flow — or lack thereof — from lake diefenbaker.
agency spokesman sean osmar said in an email that releasing the amount of water some want to restore the river in saskatoon would mean using half of the water needed by all users in a year. and, osmar added, the effect would only bring temporary change, and not last all summer.
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saskatoon’s fire department and police service are not concerned about the river levels, he added.
“the mountain snowpack, which supplies nearly 80 per cent of the flows on the river in saskatoon, is well below normal and current flows into lake diefenbaker are about half the normal flows for this time of year,” osmar’s message says.
“flows this year are similar to those observed in 2024, 2023, and 2021.”
that sounds like a trend, but since the agency operates under the umbrella of moe’s government, which fights any attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions like a virus, no mention is made of climate change.
yet the north saskatoon business association disputes the agency’s outlook and nsba executive director keith moen has written to the minister responsible, daryl harrison.
moen says in his letter that lake diefenbaker is “currently above historic average levels” and more water is expected due to “above-average” snowpack runoff from the rocky mountains.
“there is available water,” moen insists, urging the agency to increase flows.
as block noted, few among us are engineers or water experts. but, given the current state of lake diefenbaker and the south saskatchewan river, this seems like a terrible time to start planning to divert water from the lake and to spend more than a billion dollars of taxpayers’ money doing it.
but that is exactly what moe’s government is doing with a massive irrigation mega-project of highly dubious economic value expected to benefit about 50 farmers.
fifty farmers versus a city of more than 300,000 seems like a massive mismatch — but not with a provincial government so beholden to rural voters.
the water security agency, which is supposed to manage the province’s water resources, announced last month what we must hope will be a robust environmental assessment of the irrigation project.
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yet the news release on the assessment included the alleged economic impact of the venture, mostly during the temporary construction phase. the agency sounded more like a cheerleader than a steward of a precious provincial resource.
former regina liberal mp ralph goodale also championed the irrigation project, which is supposed to cost more than $4 billion in total.
but the provincial ndp won’t utter a critical word that might alienate rural voters.
in other words, saskatoon can go pound sandbars.
phil tank is the digital opinion editor at the saskatoon starphoenix.
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