|
|
|
|
| Alberta's
rivers and water resources |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Most
of Alberta’s surface water comes from the eastern slopes
of the Rocky Mountains where high snowfall and
melting glaciers supply the headwaters for almost all of Alberta’s
river systems. The most notable exception is the Peace River,
which originates in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia
and flows into Alberta.
Most of Albertans’ drinking
water supplies come from river waters. Albertans are fortunate
that most of their urban population centres are located on
river systems that originate in the mountains and can provide
residents with large volumes of clean, fresh drinking water.
Although all urban drinking supplies are treated, the limited
number of industrial or urban upstream users helps to reduce
treatment requirements. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MAP
LEGEND
- River water
– Over 85 percent of the water in Alberta’s rivers
flows north, via the Athabasca and Peace rivers, into the
Arctic Ocean. About two-thirds of Alberta’s landmass
drains into the Arctic Ocean. Less than 15 percent of the
water flows eastward into Saskatchewan, via the Churchill
and the North and South Saskatchewan rivers. The bulk of
Alberta’s present demand for water is met through withdrawals
from the Saskatchewan River system.
- Wetlands – Approximately
21 percent of Alberta is covered by wetlands. Most are on
public land, but some are on private land, Native reserves
and Metis Settlement lands. Most are located in northern
Alberta and most of these are permanent wetlands, holding
water year-round.
- Growing Demands
– Fort McMurray on the Athabasca River was established
as a Hudson's Bay Company post in 1870 and in 1901 was a
settlement of 16. The population was about 2300 in 1965
and is now more than 48,000. It is the centre for two of
the world’s largest oil sands developments with many
new projects planned for this area. Because of their size,
the cumulative effects of oil sands or forestry projects
can potentially have significant impacts on the local ecosystem
including water. Fortunately some of the most detailed environmental
impact assessments and environmental precautions ever undertaken
in Canada are associated with these projects located on
either the Athabasca or Peace River systems.
- Hay-Zama Lakes Complex
– The 50,000 hectare Hay-Zama Lakes Complex, about
110 km west of High Level, is an important staging and nesting
area for migratory waterfowl, shorebirds and waterbirds.
During spring and fall as many as 20,000 migrating geese,
60,000 ducks and 14,000 shorebirds use lakes in the complex.
- Beaverhill Lake
– Beaverhill Lake, a vast shallow wetland (13,900 ha)
near Tofield, is internationally famous for its large concentrations
of waterfowl and shorebirds in spring and fall. Upwards
of 50,000 shorebirds and 200,000 staging waterfowl (geese,
swans and ducks) have been counted here. Beaverhill Lake
is one of Canada’s five designated Western Hemisphere
Shorebird Reserve Network sites and is also a wetland of
international significance.
- Irrigation –
Southern Alberta has the most land under irrigation in Canada
and represents about 70% of developed irrigation in Canada.
It is organized into 13 irrigation districts stretching
from west of Lethbridge to east of Medicine Hat and to Calgary
in the north. Irrigation in southern Alberta began in the
1890s with many private developers who recognized that land
could only be developed if there was sufficient water for
irrigation. In the 1950s the PFRA built a series of large
dams to store water and this made larger scale irrigation
projects possible. As a result of these PFRA projects, irrigation
has today anchored a number of important agricultural-based
industries, including livestock, produce and forage crops
as well as a rapidly expanding food processing industry
in the region.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
WOOD
BUFFALO
NATIONAL PARK Established
in 1922, Wood Buffalo National Park is home to the largest
free roaming bison herd in the world and is the world’s
only natural nesting site of the whooping crane. It is a vast
area with countless bogs, forests, meandering streams, spongy
muskeg, sinkholes and huge silty rivers. Lowlands along the
eastern border contain springs that seep to the surface creating
mineral salt deposits, which are strewn across a 250 square
kilometre salt plain. In the north, the Peace-Athabasca Delta,
is one of the largest fresh-water deltas in the world and
provides habitat for large populations of waterfowl, muskrat,
beaver and wood bison, as well as many species of fish and
nesting grounds for birds. |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Scientific
uncertainty
Science doesn't claim to have all
of the answers. Sometimes information may be lacking or conditions
may be so subject to change that scientific analysis becomes
difficult to apply. Outcomes are sometimes difficult to predict.
There are occasions when not all scientists will agree on
the science itself.
To address such cases scientists
have developed what is known as the precautionary principle.
This means that where science is uncertain about outcomes,
and the outcomes could be potentially very harmful, society
should err on the conservative or safe side when making decisions.
Misuse of the precautionary principle
can occur and if taken to extremes can paralyze most decisions
in society. On the other hand, application of the precautionary
principle to recognize the potential range of results and
risks before proceeding with an important project can be a
wake up call that is ignored at our peril. The challenge is
understanding how to assess the data and possible risks. |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
