A stable supply of water has always been an issue for Walter Suntjens and other farmers in the semi-arid region near Hanna, Alta.
Jeff McIntosh for The Globe and Mail
Gallery
Three ways a price has been put on Albertan water
RENATA D’ALIESIO
Globe and Mail Update
Published
Water has become scarce in parts of Alberta, the nation’s fastest-growing province and its economic powerhouse. The predicament has sparked intense clashes in recent years and has spurred calls on the government to drastically change how it manages the vital resource.
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The mall wars
A battle for water to service a large shopping mall and proposed horse racetrack north of Calgary in 2007 underscored a new reality in southern Alberta – water for development was no longer a guarantee. The provincial government had introduced a moratorium on further requests for water for every southern Alberta river basin except Red Deer. This left Rocky View, a rural municipality near Calgary, without enough water to accommodate planned growth. Rocky View tried to tap the Red Deer River, but local communities and businesses fought back, arguing their water shouldn’t be used for development outside their region. Ultimately, Rocky View was forced to turn to Alberta’s fledgling water market, the only one of its kind in Canada. The municipality paid $15-million to a group of farmers for a share of its water rights – rights the government had granted virtually for free.
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The logo of Nestle, the Swiss food giant, is seen at the company's Headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland, Aug. 23, 2006. — FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Alberta Environment minister Rob Renner talks about Alberta's role in Copenhagen and other environmental issues during a press conference in Edmonton on Tuesday Dec. 8, 2009.
Paying for water
Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, chairman of Nestlé, the world’s largest food company, touched a nerve in Alberta earlier this year when he told Reuters in Geneva the firm was “actively dealing with the government of Alberta to think about a water exchange.” Competition for the natural resource, Mr. Brabeck-Letmathe noted, could become particularly fierce between farmers and energy companies. Opposition politicians denounced the idea of treating water like a commodity, while Environment Minister Rob Renner told the legislature, “Alberta’s water is not for sale and will not be for sale.” Technically, water isn’t for sale in the province, but as Rocky View’s quest illustrated, new access to water comes at price in southern Alberta.
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Aerial view of the Suncor oil sands extraction facility on the banks of the Athabasca River and near Fort McMurray, Alta.
Garth Gautier, left, and his son Wade fish on the banks of the banks of the Clearwater River in Fort McMurray, Alta. August 29, 2010. The glacier fed river feeds into the The Athabasca River.— Kevin Van Paassen/The Globe and Mail
Oil sands
Northern Alberta contains 80 per cent of the province’s water supply, but most of the demand is in southern Alberta. Still, concerns have been raised about the long-term health of the northern Athabasca River as oil sands development rapidly expands. In 2007, the provincial government set limits on the amount of water that energy producers can remove from the river. Two first nation communities, however, contend the rules aren’t strict enough to protect the waterway when flows are low. Monitoring of pollution from oil sands development has also come under fire. On Thursday, the federal government introduced a comprehensive plan to monitor the air, water, flora and fauna surrounding the development of one of Canada’s critical economic resources.
