b'The districts were asked to submit projects they could do. We were given the guidelines of shovel ready or near shovel ready(projects) that we could start doing fairly quickly. A lot of our districts had these projects on the drawing board, Westwood explains.In the fall of 2020, it was announced there would be $815 million in irrigation system upgrades done. The investment would be funded by the irrigation districts and government,The districts were asked to with $407.5 million coming from the Canada Infrastructure Banksubmit projects they could do. (CIB), $244.5 million from the province and $163 million from the irrigation districts. The irrigation districts would also payWe were given the guidelines back the CIB portion.of shovel ready or near shovel A news release at the time said the project would create more than 200,000 acres of irrigated land, increase primary cropready(projects) that we production, improve water use efficiency, increase water storagecould start doing fairly quickly. capacity, enhance water security, and provide flood protection toA lot of our districts had these support long-term value-added processing activity.In November 2021, another $117.7 million was invested byprojects on the drawing board. the provincial government and CIB. A news release from the government said the increased investment has the potential toDAVID WESTWOODexpand irrigation by up to 230,000 acres.The modernization project started last year, with the pipeline projects scheduled to be complete by the summer of 2025 and reservoir projects by the spring of 2028. According to Westwood, every irrigation district has started on their projects, with some further along than others. Some are in the planning stages while other projects were completed by Christmas 2021.30SPUDSMART.COM Winter 2022'