Duncairn Dam

Duncairn Dam was constructed and Reid Lake was created in 1942 by the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA). This lake was formed to supply the Rush Lake, Waldeck and Herbert irrigation projects. It has also become a supply reservoir for the City of Swift Current and some irrigation users close to the reservoir and along the creek. Water released from the reservoir maintains the flow in the Swift Current Creek for stock watering, domestic use and maintains fish habitat. Increasingly the reservoir has seen more recreational use especially boating and fishing.

The dam is 62 feet (19 meters) high and 2000 feet (610 meters) long. The reservoir holds 85124 acre feet of water which is the amount of water required to cover an acre of land to a depth of twelve inches. This is a storage capacity of 105,000 dam3 which is enough to fill almost 50,000 Olympic size swimming pools. This dam was owned by the Government of Canada and was operated by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, however ownership and management was recently transferred to the Province of Saskatchewan’s Water Security Agency (WSA).

Regulation of the water usage within the Swift Current Creek system is managed by the WSA. The amount of water available for allocated uses of irrigation and municipal needs is regulated, monitored and controlled to ensure that the needs of all are met. These regulations allow for all user groups and individual interests to have input into the water management planning, with the understanding that not all desires can be met all of the time.