The City of Morden presented its idea to draw excess water from the Pembina River to augment its water supply at an open house Monday.
It was an opportunity to share information and get feedback on the proposed way to enhance the water supply, help meet future demands, and provide effective drought mitigation.
“Right now, we’re drawing about 30 per cent of our water from the Pembina Valley Water Co-op … Lake Minnewasta is not meeting our needs at our current population, and as our population grows, we need to source more water to ensure water availability for our growing community,” said Mayor Nancy Penner.
“All we’re doing is informing the public on our future plans in terms of ensuring water security for the city,” she continued, noting they are at a preliminary stage where the city is applying for licence approval from the province.
The potential opportunity to pull excess water from the Pembina River would only be considered during high water levels in spring, Penner emphasized.
“That would sort of be the only time that we would do that … and pump it into the Dead Horse Creek watershed,” she said. “It would increase water levels in the lake if needed.”
Penner noted studies have been done, and there is data that backs up the proposal with information on historic levels during the peak spring flows.
“Those studies have been done in terms of the water supply and historic water levels both in the lake and on the Pembina, so that’s part of the information that was presented at the open house,” she said. “The numbers show there can be enough water.”
Penner again stressed water would only be drawn when it is needed and when levels allow for it.
“When the lake level is full, and it’s flowing over the spillway, we wouldn’t be pulling water at that time. When the lake level is low and we have capacity to fill, that’s when we would take the surface water,” she said. “Statistically, it shows there’s more years we could use it than years that we couldn’t use it.”
This is a project that will likely not happen in the near future.
“Basically what we’re doing is long term because we’re not going to be using it or developing it or spending money on it now,” Penner said. “But it’s looking at long term strategy for drought proofing the community and developing a long term water strategy for the City of Morden.”
