| | Background
Alberta irrigates about 675 000 ha of land, which accounts for almost 70% of Canada’s total irrigated land. About 520 000 ha of irrigated land is located within 13 irrigation districts of southern Alberta. Irrigated agriculture is an intensive and highly-valued industry, which accounts for a large portion of agricultural production in Alberta.
Water quality is intricately linked to agricultural production. Quality production is reliant upon clean source water. Water quality deterioration can occur in a number of ways, including land use impacts from agricultural, industrial, urban, and rural development.
Project Objectives
- assess the quality of source water used for irrigation from a food production perspective as well as suitability for livestock
- assess changes in water quality as water travels through the irrigation infrastructure, from source water to return flow
- determine if there are differences in water quality between the irrigation districts
- determine if there are differences in water quality between types of conveyance systems
Project Scope
This study examined about 80 sampling sites in Alberta's irrigation districts. Water was evaluated in 11 districts including the Mountain View(MVID), Aetna (AID), United (UID), Magrath (MID), Raymond (RID), Lethbridge Northern (LNID), Taber (TID), St. Mary River (SMRID), Bow River (BRID), Western (WID), and Eastern (EID) irrigation districts.
In addition, seven sites within the SMRID were sampled to determine differences in water quality between closed pipeline and open channel canals, and seasonal trends in water quality parameters.
Key Findings
- Water quality for irrigation in Alberta was generally good or excellent
- Water quality guidelines for nutrients and metals were met the majority of the time
- Pesticides were detected in most samples. Herbicides guidelines for irrigation were frequently exceeded, which may be of concern for some specialty crops
- Source water quality varied among the districts for some parameters, even for districts within the same river basin
- Salinity and major ions were not a concern for most districts, with the exception of the BRID and WID
- Some degradation of water quality occurred as water flowed through the irrigation distribution system
- Pipelines had minimal effect on water quality, except for reducing bacterial indicators
Reports
Summary Report
Full Report
Appendix 1. Site Descriptions
Appendix 2. Sampling Areas and Dates
Appendix 3. Raw Water Chemistry Data
Appendix 4. Median, Minimum, and Maximum Values for Selected Variables by Irrigation District and Site Type
Acknowledgements
This project was made possible with funding support from Canada Alberta Water Supply Expansion Program (CAWSEP) of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. |
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