| Alberta droughts are going to reach unprecedented severity unless major action is taken to address looming water shortages, says one of the world’s foremost water ecology experts.
Dr. David Schindler, a scientist at the University of Alberta, told a Calgary audience on October 14 that a combination of a warming climate, a growing human population and modern farming techniques is going to exacerbate drought conditions in Alberta. He warns that a major water crisis will hit the Prairie provinces unless government starts protecting watersheds and conserving water.
"We’ve had droughts before… but we’ve never had all these human actions that require water at the same time," he says. "We haven’t seen anything yet."
Schindler, the keynote speaker at a conference on watershed protection, has been awarded some of the most prestigious scientific awards in the world. He says there is plenty of evidence that indicates Alberta’s water supply has been slowly sapped over the past century by a warming climate, and now he worries that booming livestock populations, urban growth and limp protection guidelines are further endangering water quantity and quality – all of which points to a crisis.
"I think this glib notion of being water rich that we always take for granted is something we might want to take with a grain of salt," Schindler says. "We’re facing a major water problem in this coming century. It’s just a matter of when."
The Alberta Environment's periodic Water Supply Outlook Overview, which was released the same day, also paints a dismal picture. "Runoff volumes during the July through September 2003 period ranked from lowest to 12th lowest over 85 years of record… in the mountains and foothills," the report says. "Despite unusually high spring runoff in the Red Deer and North Saskatchewan River basins… the lack of summer precipitation resulted in near record low summer (water) volumes."
But Schindler remains optimistic that changes can be made to at least help deal with the trend. He says he’s hopeful provincial Environment Minister Lorne Taylor’s water management plan, which is still being developed, will start solving some of the problems.
The most important first step the province should take, he adds, is to protect riparian areas from farming and development practices that drain wetlands and strip land adjacent to rivers and lakes. He also suggests implementing water conservation initiatives on farms and in cities (he credited Edmonton as one of Canada's most water-thrifty cities, while saying Calgary is "in the middle of the pack") and preventing dirty street runoff from entering water bodies.
Schindler blasted agricultural practices for water profligacy and dumping excess fertilizer and manure into the water system. He also targeted Alberta’s oilsands operations, saying their environmental impact on the Athabasca River could be destructive.
"We can’t wait until a crisis," he says. "We need to get started now."
Schindler would also like to see the provincial government set an example by reducing its contribution to global warming, but his optimism on that front was a little tempered.
"(Climate warming) isn’t just a fact of the late 1990s. It’s a pretty relentless trend," he says. "(But) I would be expecting too much for this government to attack that." |
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