Rush Lake

The Rush Lake Irrigation Project commonly referred to as the Rush Lake flats or the lake is 5868 acres (2376 hectares) of flood irrigation. The lake at Rush Lake was drained to facilitate the construction of the CPR railway through it to create a more direct route as the railway originally went around the north side of the lake. In the 1950’s the PFRA started construction of an irrigation project that would use water stored at the newly constructed Duncairn Reservoir. Approximately 3,200 acres north of the CPR railway which bisects the project were constructed using the border dyke system of irrigation, this area of land is often referred to as the Intensive Irrigation portion of the project. This had been successfully used in other areas, including Eastend on the Frenchman River system. This consists of levelling the land and creating parallel dykes, 15 cm high at about 15 meter intervals to contain the water as it moves downslope. This resulted in increased forage production, reduced labor and fuel costs compared to pumping and sprinkling water onto the land, however it also means less efficient water usage. The other 2,600 acres which are south of the railway are irrigated using back flood irrigation. The “Southside” is irrigated in early March when run-off from the Rush Lake Basin is blocked from entering Lizard Creek and then spreads over the land to irrigate it. Once the land has been covered or there is no more water flow in, the water is released to Lizard Creek and eventually ends up at Reed Lake in Morse. Excess water from the North side irrigation also flows to Lizard Creek. Some of the land on the east side of the project north of the railway tracks can be either back flooded or intensively irrigated.