California AG Land

[Horse]

Tom You didnt answer the question who paid.
Ken Kowlski built the three rivers dam and made a few rich but if I rember right it cost the tax payer over 500,000,000 and I will bet none was paid back.

[TOM4CWB]

Horse,

This is infrastructure... just like highways and roads.
Flood control, river flow control, irrigation, power
production; there are many different reasons these
systems were built.

Alberta Public dollars were well spent... to build a
diverse strong economy... which water security is a
base line requirement for stable communities and
commerce. Farmers pay well for the water they apply
each year... just as we pay license fees for our vehicles.

[bucket]

Unless those dollars are paying back at a minimum 5 per cent each year to the taxpayers, it is not a good public investment.

And spending 100's of millions of taxpayers dollars on a few hundred farmers without them paying their share is equally as bad an investment.

Here is why.

If the cities of Moose Jaw and regina pick up there part of the project, they recoup it by a water and sewer bill. So those 350 to 400,000 water users are vested in the project and paying their share. The potash mines will pay their share and use the make-up water and recycle it many times.

Now the high water users will be the irrigation and they will expect all taxpayers to pay for their costs, after they have paid for their own costs through their money water bills and property taxes.

So I guess the teapayers should be able to fill pools and water grass.

[bucket]

Its infrastructure if it supplies the majority of the people.

Lake diefenbaker was an infrastructure to supply the majority of the province with good drinking water.

The secondary industries like irrigation only benefit a select few, so it should not be considered infrastructure.

BTW, I have no problem with the upper qu'appelle project as long it is fully funded by those that benefit from it. I know the potash companies and the cities will put in their buck so why don't the 200 farmers that the irrigation put up theirs.

The irrigation should be 75 percent subscribed and a deposit made by those wanting water to their quarter line of about 4000 dollars per acre as a water right.

See if there is still interest.
1 billion dollar project, over 50 percent of the water will go to the irrigators so 500,000,000.00 divided by 110,000 acres equals equals 4545per acre. Less a 10 percent discount for being subscribed early equals the 4000 per acre water right fee. Now they can go spend another 1000 an acre to put up a pivot.

As I have told the principal consultants on this, if this project proceeds then the meridian dam has more value to being built. That helps both alberta and saskatchewan.

[seabass]

They only way to justify irrigaton in california is to grow high value crops. That land is total garbage. They call them valleys. But really are deserts surrounded by mountains with aquaducts running thru them. They can grow great crops with the wiz from sacramento

[blackpowder]

The way I see it; once the government has a dollar, it's as
good as spent. They might as well spend it in your back yard.
Applying rates of return to govt is a fools game. It sounds
like what you want is accountability. Can't comment on
specific projects. Can't even say what the correct method is.
But if you're wasting water and heat units you should be
held accountable. If you don't convert your real assets to the
highest end use, someone else will.

[bucket]

blackpowder

Good points, but the others that will convert the assets to the highest end use maybe will have the pocketbook to do it.

The problem with all of this stems from the fact it could have been done 40 years ago but the same problem exists then and now. The benefactors see they can't afford to do it. So they ask the taxpayers.

If i want to farm 20000 acres ( I don't BTW) and hire 4 guys to work, I don't get a blank cheque from the government to do so.

These guys want to irrigate, but they don't want to risk their existing business to do so, so they go begging to the government. That is the smell test for me. If you can't afford it on your own, don't ask the government to do it for you, unless its a 1 in 1000 year disaster.

BTW. I have a pretty good idea what it takes to irrigate and I really don't know why these guys want to do it with todays reasonable returns on dryland.

[Burbert]

Thirsty amerikie is lookin Nort, fer
water. Albertie wit its lust fer
pipelines'll supply her. amerikins are
our best customers, after water and
bitumen in that order. F'k it wes open
fer business, sell whatever we got ta hell
wit the next generation after all theys
gonna inherit our fat bank accounts
anyways, write?

[bucket]

In a way I agree with you burbert.

I live not to from the south saskatchewan river and more water has been wasted/flowed through in the last 5 years than this province could use in 20 years.

I do believe in creating reservoirs, filling them and making the best use of the water. If selling is an option, good, but don't give it away.

[TOM4CWB]

By the way...

This was about covering 570,000 ac of good flat Ag
land with solar panels... in case you missed it.

I guess we can build greenhouses and grow the
produce for them! That would be really green
especially when it is 40 below... in Alberta!

[blackpowder]

I hear you Tom. The insane are running
the asylum. And as you know Cali. is the
prototype for the rest of us. I don't
think they are broke enough yet.