Alberta outlines the drought conditions that would lead to state of emergency

Alberta's environment ministry says it is watching three triggers closely to determine whether or not emergency declarations are used to respond to drought this year.

The province has five stages on the books as part of its water management response plan. Currently, the province is at stage four, which includes water-sharing agreements announced last month. 

Under stage five, Alberta would declare an emergency under the Water Act. That's provincial legislation that came into effect in 2000 which governs the management and protection of water resources.

Emergencies would be applied to specific locations — and they could range, for instance, from small areas within a sub-basin to the entire South Saskatchewan River Basin or province, the government says. 

If an emergency were to be declared, relevant water-sharing agreements would be superseded. 

Such an emergency has never been declared under the Water Act, the province said.

In addition to water licences, the framework would allow the government to suspend approvals and registrations, and to designate how water is diverted and used.

The province said it would consider three triggers prior to declaring emergencies on a case-by-case basis:

In an interview with CBC News in mid-April, Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz said conditions weren't yet sufficient to move to stage five. 

"We do have water within the system. The users are all coming together," Schulz said. "Every drop we can not use, or we can conserve, is a drop of water that can be used by somebody downstream."

She added the province was waiting for data on peak snowpack levels before announcing its next steps to respond to drought conditions.

That data is currently being analyzed, the environment ministry said, and water-sharing agreement participants will be meeting next week to review and assess what action is needed, if any.

Though parts of Alberta have been hit recently with a spring storm that brought heavy, wet snow to some regions, drought conditions develop over a period of time much longer than one week.

The province is seeing 51 water shortage advisories for select water management areas across the province. Every little bit of precipitation helps, and above-average precipitation in parts of the province has surely brought relief to farmers in mid-central Alberta.