
'A societal issue': Drought-plagued Alberta braces for even worse conditions
CBC
Day after day, the water trucks rolled into the southwest Alberta communities of Cowley, Lundbreck and Beaver Mines. Due to severe drought conditions, that's how residents and businesses got their water supply between last August and late December.
Those communities normally get water piped in from the nearby Oldman Reservoir. But its water levels became so low that the intake pipes were suddenly sucking in prairie air instead — requiring the desperate (and costly) truck solution.
Engineers have figured out a pumping solution to stop the need for daily trucks, but sometimes they still have to haul when the pipes pick up too much silt and sediment from the parched reservoir's bed, says David Cox, reeve of the Municipal District of Pincher Creek.
Water issues have become most of what he talks about — with residents facing sharp usage restrictions, with fellow municipal leaders and farm groups, with provincial officials on a now-regular basis.
"Nobody started talking about this issue until we ran out of water and started hauling it," the reeve tells CBC News. "It's not just our issue. It's a big issue for everybody."
As bad as last year's drought situation was — water trucks to Cowley, feed crunches for cattle farmers, lawn-sprinklering limits in Calgary — many indications show that this year threatens to be even worse in much of Alberta and the rest of western Canada.
The Alberta government's creeping sense of urgency showed up Wednesday. Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz sent a letter to all 25,000 holders of water licenses in Alberta, launching negotiations to get users to reach water sharing agreements.
A provincial "Drought Command Team" — name carries some gravitas, doesn't it? — will work with major water users in sectors like agriculture and industry to "secure significant and timely reductions," the minister's letter states.
A day earlier, Schulz and other top officials held a telephone town hall with a wide range of Albertans from water commissions, local councils, oil companies and the golf course association.
Stacey Smythe, an assistant deputy minister with Alberta Environment, put forth many grim stats.
The Oldman Reservoir west of Fort Macleod is at 28 per cent capacity, compared to a normal range between 62 and 80 per cent around now. St. Mary's Reservoir is at 15 per cent, when it should be between 41 and 70.
Before freeze-up, Willow Creek near Claresholm logged its lowest monthly flow since 2000. And while northern Alberta watersheds mostly aren't as bad, up at the town of Peace River the namesake river has also logged its lowest average flow this century.
Those water bodies mostly get recharged from melting mountain snowpack, and the accumulation in this mild, dry winter is lower than last year's.
"More than agriculture will be impacted if this extreme level of dryness continues," Smythe said. "The situation is going to impact all of Alberta. It is a societal issue — not an environmental issue."