| | "In talking with people from every sector of water use, I’ve become convinced that if we want to influence the future of how water is used and what our province and communities will look like in the future, Alberta’s Water for Life strategy is a really good place to start to get at those issues and help us build the West that we want,” says David Hill of the Alberta Irrigation Projects Association.
Hill represents the irrigation sector on the Alberta Water Council. This independent, multi-stakeholder body was created in May 2004. Its purpose is to identify and address water issues in the province and to guide implementation of Alberta’s Water for Life strategy.
The strategy, released in November 2003, was developed through 18 months of consultations with Albertans and water experts. Its comprehensive approach to Alberta’s water issues includes short-, medium- and long-term actions to accomplish three major goals: safe, secure drinking water; healthy aquatic ecosystems; and reliable quality water supply for a sustainable economy.
The Alberta Government retains responsibility and accountability for water management decisions, but partnerships – like the Water Council – are key to achieving the strategy’s goals. By bringing together knowledge, resources and perspectives and by sharing responsibility, partnerships are better able to address the complex issues in water management.
Alberta Environment’s Terry Sly says, “The strategy identified that Albertans wanted a greater role in the decision making in water management. One of the ways to bring this about is through three types of partnerships – the Alberta Water Council at the provincial level, Watershed Planning and Advisory Councils at the basin level, and Watershed Stewardship Groups at the local level.”
The Water Council’s 25 members represent industry, non-government organizations, Alberta Government ministries and provincial authorities, and other governments (see box). Sly, who is on the Council’s Secretariat, says the broad-based membership ensures that “the Council is representative of the interests of each sector while also being able to take the big picture view for the greater good of all Albertans. Everybody at the table is a partner, and they work under consensus decision making to find the best solutions to water issues.”
The Water Council has already developed its terms of reference that spell out how it will accomplish its mandate. It is currently beginning work on several priority tasks including identifying water conservation and efficiency targets for all sectors and reviewing Alberta’s wetlands policy. Hill says, “We’re trying to be very strategic at the Water Council in addressing some of the bigger province-wide issues. We don’t want to duplicate the kind of work undertaken within basins or individual watersheds. Instead, we want to make sure that the right kinds of research, policies and initiatives are in place to give people more tools and opportunities to address the issues in their own basins and watersheds in the ways that work best for their areas.”
Although Alberta faces water management challenges, such as increasing demands for water due to the growing population and economy, as well as drought and water quality issues, Hill is optimistic. He says, “[Within the irrigation sector] for the last decade, we’ve been taking a hard, strong look – scientifically, operationally and policy-wise – at how we manage water for food production. And we have achieved some significant gains. As an example, irrigators today use a third less water per acre than they did just 15 years ago. That’s a huge increase in efficiency.”
Hill adds, “If we can capitalize on everybody’s expertise and strengths, then we should be able to make our finite water supplies produce a whole lot more benefits and to do it in a way that is much more environmentally sustainable than perhaps we’ve been able to do in the past.”
More information about the Alberta Water Council and the Water for Life strategy is available at www.waterforlife.gov.ab.ca. |
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