While Alberta’s oil industry is expected to post the biggest increase in demand for that province’s water between now and 2010, irrigation is expected to account for the biggest increase in the five following years, according to a new provincial government report.
The environment department’s report on current and future water use in Alberta, released Friday, points to irrigation as the biggest user of the province’s water supply by far, accounting for 43 per cent of provincial allocations to various users — and 63 per cent of actual use.
The report points out that 34.5 per cent of water allocated in the province (by 2005 estimates) was actually used — an amount almost twice that of annual natural flow in the Red Deer River. That amount, 3.3 million cubic decameters, works out to about 55 per cent of what users were in fact licensed to use in 2005.
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(“Allocations” describes the amounts of surface or groundwater that licensed users are entitled to take, while “licensed use” is the amount a licensed user is expected to actually consume or lose, the difference being the amount of return flow made available for re-use.)
In terms of use by category, irrigation, at 63 per cent of actual use in 2005, comes in ahead of the “other” category, (flood control, lake level management, fish and wildlife habitat) at 13 per cent and the petroleum sector at eight per cent.
As a percentage of allocations, irrigation at 43 per cent is followed by industrial use (28 per cent), municipal (11 per cent), petroleum (eight per cent), “other” (seven per cent), livestock watering (two per cent) and commercial use (one per cent).
Forecasts
Overall water use in Alberta is predicted to rise 21 per cent from current use by 2025, the report notes. Between now and 2010, as more oilsands mines come online and upgraders are built to process bitumen, the petroleum sector is expected to make up the majority of the increase in demand.
Between 2010 and 2015, however, the irrigation sector is expected to account for the biggest increase in water use, “but this will stabilize once the irrigation districts are operating at maximum capacity,” the province noted.
Water use in the “other” sector is also expected to rise, but the change in use is expected to be “fairly small” compared to changes expected for irrigation and industrial users.
The forecasts are made on a “business as usual” basis and don’t take into account any significant changes in efficiency or productivity between now and 2025, the province said. Those include any changes the province may spearhead under its “Water for Life” strategy.
The province on Friday also posted an initial assessment of the health of aquatic ecosystems in the province, including water quality in 11 of the province’s major river systems. Of those, the province said, 11 per cent were rated of “excellent” quality, 64 per cent “good” and 25 per cent “fair,” with none rated “poor.”
