By Nathaniel Leigh

Water Management

SMRID announces 14-inch allocation for 2026 Irrigation Season

Apr 1, 2026 | 5:10 PM

The St. Mary River Irrigation District’s (SMRID) Board of Directors has set water allocations to 14 inches for the 2026 season.

SMRID Chairman Cory Nelson says 14 inches will allow irrigators from Lethbridge to Medicine Hat to grow a successful crop while also allowing the district to meet storage targets for winter 2026.

“This announcement follows an initial 8-inch allocation in 2024, which was later raised to 9 inches, and a 12-inch allocation in 2025,” says Nelson. “Our Board also factors in current storage levels. While the warmer temperatures this winter resulted in a reduced snowpack overall for the Southern Tributaries, strategic investments in off-stream storage reservoirs allowed for the capture of an additional 155,000 acre-feet of early runoff water in winter 2025/2026.”

In 2024, SMRID set the allocation at eight and later 9 inches, moving up to 12 in 2025.

Average on-crop use across the district in 2025 was 9.5 inches.

Nighttime construction on Hwy 3 in Lethbridge starts April 17

Apr 17, 2025

SASHA launches #BuyABed fundraiser to support vulnerable Lethbridge residents

Apr 04, 2025

$20K grants available: TELUS STORYHIVE Pan-Asian Edition opens applications April 1

Mar 18, 2025

As of Mar. 27, combined storage is at 620,000 acre-feet, or 79 percent of the full supply level.

Alberta’s irrigation districts contribute 28 per cent to the province’s overall agri-food GDP, while activities related to irrigation bring in $5.4 billion to the provincial GDP, generate $3.2 billion in labour income, and support roughly 46,000 full-time equivalent jobs.