Underneath more than 3,200 hectares of agricultural land in Niagara-on-the-Lake exists an irrigation system like no other in the country.
Its first components were put in place about 35 years ago, and it is a crucial part of the town’s farming economy.
It’s the envy of people involved in the industry, said Coun. Erwin Wiens, a local grape grower who is also council’s representative on the municipality’s irrigation committee, which oversees decisions related to the system.
It runs from mid-May to mid-September, and exists through the passing of a private member’s bill decades ago that allows the system to pull water from sources such as the Niagara River, Lake Ontario, the Ontario Power Generation Canal, and the Welland Canal, explained Wiens.
At an irrigation committee meeting last week, concern from members was raised while discussing two agenda items, related to clean-up and maintenance issues, and who will pay for them.
There are two ponds in the area of the Virgil Dam at Four Mile Creek Road and Line 3.
The ponds are owned by Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, and are a source of water for the irrigation system, which is owned by the municipality, but paid for by local growers.
However, the town’s irrigation committee is now struggling with some work that has to be done, related to removing obstructions in Four Mile Creek, that would cost about $45,000 to remedy.
Wiens estimates the value of the system is about $20 million, all of which is an investment made by local growers since the system started operating.
But the cost of repairing culverts and removing obstructions shouldn’t come out of the growers’ pockets, said Wiens, because the damage is not related to irrigation.
Erosion caused by heavy rain and thaws are to blame, not the functions of the system, he said.
“We’re all in agreement that irrigation water is not causing the issue,” he added, also noting the problem at the ponds, which were built in 1968, mostly has to do with silt build-up.
While discussing the ponds at the recent committee meeting, the town’s public works manager Darren MacKenzie told members that changes to the Ontario Conservation Authority Act have resulted in the NPCA no longer having funding to maintain them, other than to take care of grass cutting in the area.
Therefore, two options need to be considered by the committee, said MacKenzie.
The first consideration related to the ponds is that the committee enters a memorandum of understanding with the conservation authority, opening better access to funding from upper levels of government to make improvements.
The NPCA has “avenues we don’t have available as a town,” MacKenzie told the committee, referring to funding sources from upper levels of government.
MacKenzie said during the meeting that a cleanup of the two ponds has an estimated cost of about $425,000 and that the NPCA could potentially bring in half that amount by applying for funding from those sources.
If the committee decided not to form an agreement, the NPCA will decommission the ponds, which is their second option, he said.
The committee voted to move forward with exploring options related to signing a memorandum of understanding with the NPCA, but did not commit to any specific details of an
agreement.
Wiens was not in attendance at last week’s committee meeting because he was meeting with federal officials about irrigation issues, he told The Local, a sister publication of ThoroldToday. Those discussions involved a potential partnership with Niagara Region, and the federal and provincial governments to create a new system like the one in Niagara-on-the-Lake that would serve western portions of the peninsula, said Wiens, who has also been chair of the region’s irrigation committee for the last 10 years.
That project has an estimated cost of $100 million and would also involve about $10 million in improvements for Niagara-on-the-Lake’s irrigation system, he said.
It is hoped that Niagara-on-the-Lake would be able to increase the volume of water it takes, as well as the number of acres the system serves.
The idea of entering into an agreement with the NPCA, he said, is worth exploring.
“I’m always in favour of finding creative ways that we can keep the irrigation system viable. We’ve got to look at all avenues to make it work.”
He told The Local that the irrigation system was also a topic of discussion at last month’s Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference, where he asked the provincial Minister of Infrastructure for support to maintain and expand irrigation in Niagara.
Wiens reiterated that Niagara-on-the-Lake’s system is “wholly funded” by growers, but noted that the town has an irrigation superintendent on its payroll to play a role in its operation.
Wiens, in his second term on council, became part of the municipal committee about five years ago.
