Freshwater yield dwindling

Bow River Shuttles

The prairie provinces, including Alberta's Bow River, above, get 12 per cent of Canada's freshwater yeild, as population for the region has grown from 1.6 million in 1071 to 4.5 million in 2006, says StatsCan

Spring rain, snow melt
production has fallen 8.5%

By Kelly Cryderman,
Calgary Herald
September 14, 2010

Canada's renewable freshwater supply dropped dramatically over three decades in the most populated areas of the country, with the prairies particularly hard hit, according to a new report from Statistics Canada.

"If we want to be able to manage our water and understand what's happening with water over time, we need to know where it is, how much we have and how that's changing over time," said co-author Heather Dewar.

...Studies such as the Statistics Canada report are often difficult to stomach when Alberta has just gone through a cool and rainy summer, said Joe Obad of Water Matters, a conservation group.

"When everything looks green, it just slips off of peoples' political radar and makes it harder for decision-makers to make tough decisions."

But the Alberta government needs to pay serious attention to its long-standing promise to examine and re-vamp the province's water allocation system to deal with population growth and other climate changes in the years to come, Obad said...

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