Author(s)

LORRAINE A. NICOL, CHRISTOPHER J. NICOL, SVEN ANDERS

Abstract

Water availability is essential for a wide range of economic activities, especially agriculture, food processing and oil and gas extraction, primary businesses in the province of Alberta, Canada. In 2005, recognizing the strain of population and economic growth on southern Alberta water resources, the Government of Alberta (GoA) took the unprecedented step of closing three river basins in the southern area of the province to new water license allocations. To provide flexibility in water availability, the GoA implemented water re-allocation mechanisms, including a water license transfer system, and also allowed for amendments to agriculture-intensive irrigation district water licenses for ‘other purpose uses’. The latter mechanism was intended to allow for water to be provided for non-irrigation purposes. This research explored the potential impact on economic activity of water resource management activities in southern Alberta, where a significant level of economic activity is dependent on water availability. The format of the study relied on semi-structured interviews of municipal and economic development leaders in a region of southern Alberta. The case study findings indicate that in the study’s agriculture-intense, southern area, economic development is not being constrained by water availability, and the re-allocation mechanisms function effectively when needed. However, the area studied faces a critical lack of water and wastewater treatment infrastructure, which is essential for providing the treated water required by the water-intensive agriculture processing industries which this agricultural and food-processing region has attracted, and seeks to expand.

Keywords

water allocation, irrigation district, economic development, agri-food processing