WATER MANAGEMENT STRATEGY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES IN ALBERTA

Description: In the Oldman River Basin, a large volume of water is allocated for use (primarily irrigation) and a substantial portion of natural stream flow is diverted from river channels from mid-spring to early fall. While natural flows are most suitable for maintaining river ecosystems, natural flows have not occurred for decades and cannot be provided within the constraints of water allocation in Alberta.

The science of instream flow needs (IFN) shows that strategic management of altered river flows can support natural processes and maintain ecological integrity and environmental services. IFN-based flows are integrated into water management practice in some, but not all, stream sections in the Oldman River Basin. Agriculture and Irrigation, Water Infrastructure and Operations Branch (AGI-WIOB) operators have worked with AGI-WIOB biologists to deliver enhanced environmental flows in years with suitable conditions, but the process is not formalized and is incompletely captured in operating plans and strategies.

The objective of the project is to develop environmental operating procedures in a format that can be easily used to support water management operations. Integration of environmental operating procedures in water management decision-making is intended to achieve broader outcomes without compromising primary water management objectives. Implementation may be supported by the development of tools to aid real-time water management decision-making. The proposed project will be organized in steps, and delivery is scheduled to occur over three years. Steps include (but are not limited to) development of process, identification and quantification of ecosystem services, development of environmental, hydrological, and operational models, and development and testing of the environmental decision-making support system.

Background: Water is managed in Alberta to support a variety of uses, including drinking water, agriculture, and industry. Operation of dams, diversions, storage reservoirs, and distribution canals has altered natural flow in many watersheds, including the Oldman River Basin. Streamflow in the Oldman River, Waterton River, Belly River, St. Mary River, Willow Creek, and Little Bow River is altered. Changes to natural flow range from moderate to profound.

Alberta manages water with the objective of supplying demand while maintaining fundamentally intact river ecosystems. Balancing consumptive needs with environmental requirements can be extremely challenging in some years. A comprehensive assessment of instream flow needs in the South Saskatchewan River Basin (which included the Oldman River Sub-Basin and the Bow River Sub-Basin) described environmental deficiencies in multiple river reaches. Achieving even basic instream objectives frequently proves difficult or impossible. Climate science suggests that water management is likely to become even more difficult in the future. Development of a water market to facilitate transfers of water licenses following the 2006 moratorium on new licenses in the South Saskatchewan River Basin has limited potential to improve delivery of ecological services or protect river ecosystems in Southern Alberta.

The Okanagan River Basin straddles the British Columbia – United States border. Similar water management challenges exist with high demand for a limited, highly variable water supply. For decades, water managers struggled to achieve competing objectives. In 2003, the Okanagan Fish-Water Management Tool (FWMT) decision-making support system was implemented, and achievement of fisheries management and water management outcomes was fundamentally changed as a result. Since 2003, managers have achieved significant and sustained improvement in environmental and other objectives while sustaining successful delivery of water to agricultural and other users.

In the Oldman River Basin water managers have successfully worked with biologists to achieve functional flows to deliver environmental outcomes. But much like the early Okanagan experience, collaboration is inconsistent, and communication is inefficient in some years. Collaborative processes are vulnerable because they are not well established in formal operating plans and are overly dependent on key staff – an unstable foundation for long-term, consistent delivery that will span many careers.

Objectives: The objective of the multi-year project is to improve the integration and delivery of environmental services and traditional water management services in southern Alberta. Accomplishing the objective requires the development of an environmental decision-making support tool for water managers in the Oldman River Basin. A useful support tool needs to provide simple, reliable information to operators in a timely fashion. Providing timely information is intended to improve achievement of environmental objectives without risking achievement of other water management objectives.

In year one the main objective is to develop a work plan to identify and organize the steps needed to build the management tool. A second objective is to identify and quantify services provided or supported by water management in southern Alberta that may be incorporated into the environmental support system. Of particular interest are ecosystem services such as fish/fish habitat and riparian forests, but services must also include consumptive uses such as irrigation, industrial use, and municipal use, and should include non-consumptive uses such as recreation and social benefits. A third objective is to audit water management in selected years to rate achievement of water management objectives and environmental, social, and recreational objectives.

In year two the objective is to develop the environmental support system (ESS) model. This will require development of sub-models for water supply and hydrology, climate and water temperature, seasonal fish habitat, and socioeconomic water management ‘rules’. Sub-models will need to be integrated, and outputs converted to specific water management actions. Using the ESS model, the water management tool will be developed.

In year three the objective will be to test the environmental water management tool on the selected flow years that were previously audited to evaluate performance of the tool and make refinements. Tool development will be completed and delivered for use by operators, water managers, and resource managers. The project will be documented with a final technical report.