In a news release, the province said it is focusing on three watershed systems—the Red Deer River, Bow River, and Old Man River basins.
“If a severe drought occurs, these agreements would see major users use less water to help others downstream,” said the news release.
Shannon Frank, executive director with the Oldman Watershed Council, said many dryland (not irrigated) farmers and livestock owners were hit hard in 2023.
“Their creeks might have dried up, their dugouts are empty, the grass didn’t grow very much,” she told The Epoch Times, adding that they’re having to buy feed instead of letting their animals graze. “We’ve heard from some that they’ve sold off their animals because they can’t afford to feed them.”
She said even farmers who use irrigation are getting worried.
“They’re a lot more worried about this year, waiting to see what the snowpack and the spring rains look like,” she said.
The province says all of its water comes from either rain or melting snow. And this winter, the snowpack is below average, some rivers are at record low levels, and many reservoirs are low.
“This effort will be the largest water-sharing negotiation to have ever occurred in Alberta’s history,” said a statement from Rebecca Schulz, Alberta’s minister of environment and protected areas. A news release calls the scope of the work “unprecedented.”
“The latest numbers from the government was we’re at 37 percent of average streamflow [in the Oldman Basin], much below normal. And our reservoirs are very low,” said Ms. Frank.
In Alberta, there are 25,000 organizations and businesses that hold licences for 9.5 billion cubic meters of water.
Ms. Frank believes the government is moving in the right direction. She is also confident they will be able to reach agreements on water use, much like what happened in 2001 in the province.
At the same time, a severe drought is going to touch everyone, she said.
“Everyone might get 50 percent of what they normally would get,” she said. ”And so everyone has to conserve, everyone has to pitch in. But the largest users, the irrigation districts, they’re going to have to give up some water for the other users like municipalities.”
She said municipalities have already been told by the province to start planning in case there are water shortages.
“As far as I can tell, municipalities are taking that very seriously, they’re coming up with plans … there’s a lot of planning going on in preparation.”
Alberta’s minister of agriculture said the province’s farmers are leaders in water conservation and stewardship.
“Drought is something our farmers and ranchers have experienced before,” RJ Sigurdson said in a statement. “Our irrigators and agricultural producers have done an amazing job to manage their operations during tough times.”
Ms. Frank said droughts have been happening in Alberta for hundreds of years.
“Droughts are fairly common in southwest Alberta, and we have had ten-year droughts, we’ve had 20-year droughts … it certainly isn’t unexpected, if you look at the climate data from the past 1,000 years,” she said.
She added while the province needs to plan, things could still change for 2024.
“Our peak snowpack isn’t until April, and most rain is usually in June,” she said. “Everyone’s getting prepared, which is what they should do, and it’s good to see that. It’s wait and see at this point.”
