Water Availability

Hi there, thank you for your question.

Planning for irrigation expansion is done independently by individual irrigation districts.  In the South Saskatchewan River Basin, which is closed to new water licences, a decision to expand irrigation would be informed by a district’s opportunities to increase water efficiency and/or increase or optimize water infrastructure including storage.  Water and climate modelling is used to inform a district of their options considering factors such as crop water demands, acreage, available storage etc. to estimate total water use and water supply risk – particularly in drought years. 

Aside from irrigation expansion, climate change modelling is used to inform water management more broadly. Using the projections of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6), EPA has generated high-resolution future climate data for Alberta derived from multiple general circulation models (or global climate models) to evaluate the impacts of climate change on freshwater availability using hydrologic modeling.  For example, these climate change datasets were recently used by WaterSMART in the latest Adaptation Roadmap for the SSRB (Phase 3) released in March 2024 that evaluated strategic water management options using the South Saskatchewan River Operational Model (SSROM).

Hi there, thank you for your interest. We are pleased to inform you that the southern Alberta in-person open house that could not take place in Lethbridge due to the by-election has been rescheduled for Fort Macleod on December 9 from 5:30 to 8:00pm. Please register here: Water Availability Open House - Fort Macleod Tickets, Mon, Dec 9, 2024 at 5:30 PM | Eventbrite.

Hi there! Thanks for the question. Please call 310-FARM (3276) or email 310farm@gov.ab.ca to be connected with a local specialist who can address your concerns. 

Hi Meghan! Thanks for your question. The engagement will close on January 10, 2025.