History of Irrigation 3
Canada
Water issues in Canada
 Water Rights for irrigation farming
 Transboundary issues with the U.S.
St Mary River and the Milk River
 Water and Hydro Power (e.g.)
Columbia River Basin Treaty 1961
Skagit River System, 1984 agreement
not to raise the Ross Dam
 Water Rights and 1.st Nation People
Blood Tribe Agricultural Project
Location of irrigation
< 1%
1.1 - 5.0
5.1 - 15.0
> 15%
Irrigated land in Canada
Water Rights Administration
 1867: Dominion of Canada
Common Law; riparian rights
 1898: Northwest Irrigation Act
Canadian Government claim
ownership of the water
Change from riparian to prior
appropriation right
 1929: The Provinces take ownership
Manitoba
 1929: Manitoba Water Rights Act
 1930-50s inactive
 1950: Following the flood, flood control activities
were recommended by 1958
 1959 Act amended to include water diversion and
use incl. groundwater
 During 60s administered by one person
 During 70s licenses mostly for small farm dams and
ducks unlimited dams
 1980: Following drought years dramatic increase in
applications incl. large scale irrigation projects
Manitoba
 Late 80s early 90s potato processors required
growers to have irrigation
 During 1994 and 1995 there was a moratorium on
new licenses along the Assiniboine River
 1996: New Water Act; proclaimed in 1998
 Late 1990s large scale irrigation projects mainly
for potatoes
 Early 2000: Major Water Sources are fully
allocated
Irrigation in Saskatchewan
 When the province was established there were 110
irrigators operating 304 km of canals
 Early development much slower than in Alberta –
Palliser Triangle
 1929 Saskatchewan Water Right Act
 1935 Federal Government established Prairie Farm
Rehabilitation Administration as a result of the 192937 drought:
- provided funds for 26 storage reservoirs
- 6 irrigation projects serving 9.310 Ha
+ provincial government developed 9 irrigation projects
 1997 New Irrigation Act
Irrigation in Alberta
< 2 000 hectares
2 001 - 12 000
12 001 - 32 000
32 001 - 64 000
64 001 - 340 000
IRRIGATION IN ALBERTA
The Waterton Dam completed in 1964 provides water for the St
Mary system. Alberta has thousands of hectares of fertile soil,
however, large portions of the southern and eastern areas suffer
from a lack of rainfall
An overview of legislation
 1879: First recorded irrigation scheme
 1892: St. Mary Irrigation Projects starts as Canadian
Northwest Irrigation Company
 1894: North West Irrigation Act
 1906: Alberta Irrigation Act
 1915: Alberta Irrigation District Act
 Provincially guaranteed mortgages for irrigation Dev
 Powers to levy taxes to support operation and maintenacne
 1931: The Water Resource Act
 Following transfer of water from Federal to Province
 1948: The Prairie Province Board to share the water in
the prairie rivers.
An overview of legislation
 1968: New Irrigation Act replaced all existing
acts governing irrigation districts
 1970: Assist districts in rehabilitating capital
works. Government 86% irrigators 14%
 1975: Water Resources Act: irrigation given
priority over industry, power generation and
recreational use
 1999: Water Act – introduced water trading
 2000: Irrigation Districts Act – trading within
irrigation districts, outside trading only against
plebiscite
Development of Irrigation – 4 phases
Phase 1: The early years: pre-1920
 Characterized by admirable foresight,
optimism, enthusiasm and speculation
 Government conducted land and water
surveys to identify potential irrigation sites.
Actual development left to private enterprise
 Limited knowledge of agro-climatic and
agronomic parameters for viable irrigation
 Therefore some projects failed while others
endured with great debt
Phase 2: The adjustment years 1920-50
Relieving irrigators of capital works debt
Greater government financial responsibility
Water charges more based on ability-to-pay
Smaller and more intensive irrigation
Encouragement of higher value crops
Educational programs and technical
assistance
 By 1950 11 of the 13 farmer-run irrigation
districts were established, the last two Bow
and St Mary were established in 1968
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Irrigation districts within Alberta
Phase 3: Rehabilitation and Expansion
of the Delivery System: 1950-70
 Federal and Provincial Governments involved
in large expenditures for the rehabilitation
and expansion
 Resettlement of drought-stricken farmers and
war veterans was a big incentive for
government to finance development
 Governments willingness to assume
responsibility increased stability and
assurance of water supply
Phase 4: Provincial and Irrigation
District Control: 1970 to present
 In 1969 the cost share-program was revised
from 14/86 to 20/80 and in 1995 to 25/75 for
rehabilitation
 In 1975, the province took ownership of the
major water delivery head works, to operate
the projects for multi-purpose use
 The irrigation districts experienced strong
growth during 1970-80, an increase of 50% of
irrigated area
Growth of irrigation within the 13
districts in Alberta
Growth of private irrigation in Alberta
The Alberta Water Challenge
Water scarcity emerging in Alberta due to:
 Economic growth
 Increased demand from industry, agriculture
and domestic use
 Increased environmental awareness,
 Increased demand for water for in-stream
purposes
 Anticipated climate change
The Alberta Response
 In recognition of scarce resource status
 1999, 2000 introduced trading
 2001 a moratorium in the southern
tributaries of the Oldman River
 2003 The Water for Life Strategy
 2005/06 stop accepting applications for
new allocations for the Bow, Oldman and
South Saskatchewan River sub-basins
It is not going to get any better
Some facts and future predictions
 22 of 33 main stem river reaches in the
SSRB rated as ‘moderately impacted’, five as
heavily impacted and three as degraded;
 demand from non-irrigation could increase
between 35 and 67% by 2021 and between
52 and 136% by 2046;
It is not going to get any better
Some facts and future predictions
 irrigation districts have the potential to
expand by up to 10 and 20% in the
Oldman and Bow Rivers;
 the population in the SSRB expected to
grow from 1.3 million in 1996 to over
two million by 2021 and to more than
three millions by 2046; and,
 throw into this mix the impact of
climate change.
The water for life strategy
 Acknowledge that demand is outstripping
supply in many catchments
 Sets out to ensure that future demand can be
met without reducing existing production
 How? Efficiency and productivity improvements
and voluntary reallocations
 How? Economic instruments, stakeholder
participation, best management practices
Water for Life Strategy
Three strategic outcomes:
 safe, secure drinking water supply;
 healthy aquatic ecosystems; and,
 reliable, quality water supplies for a sustainable
economy.
Three directions of actions:
 Knowledge and research, based on science
 Partnerships, most solutions to water issues arises
from the effective management of watersheds
through partnership with stakeholders and the
public; and,
 Conservation, usage and storage of water must be
improved through conservation
Water for Life Strategy
 evaluate the merits of using economic instruments
to meet water conservation and productivity
objectives by 2007
 ensure that Albertan’s understand the value of
water to the economy and quality of life by 2007
 prepare water conservation and productivity plans
for all water using sectors (best management
practices) by 2010
 implement economic instruments as necessary to
meet water conservation and productivity
objectives by 2010
 complete watershed management plans by 2015
 improve the efficiency and productivity of water
use by 30% by 2015 (relative to 2005 levels)
Challenges in implementing the response
How do we achieve these objectives?
 Policy restrictions:
 All existing water users must be respected; and
 All reallocations of water to be on a voluntary
basis
But we have already come a long
way - Irrigation methods
On-farm application efficiency
Historical cropping patterns
within irrigation districts
Irrigation is not a uniform industry
Variability in irrigation efficiency
On-farm irrigation efficiencies (Average %)
Group
1965
1999
Bow River
34.7
69.0
Central
36.3
73.0
Southern
tributary
30.7
61.1
Source: Adapted from AIPA, 2002
On-farm irrigation method and efficiency
(percent of total hectares)
Group
pivot
wheel
move
gravity
other
Efficiency
Bow
55.4
17.8
26.0
0.8
69.0
Central
70.7
25.1
3.6
0.7
73.0
Southern
38.8
36.9
22.2
2.1
61.1
Source: Adapted from AAFRD, 2005
Variability in soil type
Variability in frost free days
Variability in supply reliability
 Bow River Group: Never experienced
restrictions
 Central group: Have experienced
restriction in worst drought years
 Southern Tributary group: Most severe
and frequent restriction
Other differences
 Bow River group has the biggest potential
to expand, has the biggest districts with the
biggest farms; some specialty crop
production, highest rainfall
 Central Group has smaller farms, little
potential for expansion and most specialty
crops and feed lots, middle rainfall
 Southern group has the smallest farms, little
capacity for expansion and the lowest value
production, lowest rainfall
Canadian-U.S. Water Treaties
1909 The Boundary Waters Treaty
• Cooperation in the use of all waterways crossing the
border
• safeguard water levels and flows in the Great Lakes
• the use of water from St Mary’s and Milk Rivers
• Equal and similar rights to both countries
• Creation of The International Joint Commission ( IJC )
to resolve disputes over water use
• 1912 water pollution was one of the first problems
and has remained so ever since
Canadian-U.S. Water Treaties
• 1955 The Great Lakes Fishery
Commission
• 1972 The Great Lakes Water Quality
Agreement
• 1978 New, Great Lakes Water Quality
Agreement
• 1987 New, Great Lakes Water Quality
Agreement
Transboundary Basins
There are also regionally based arrangements such as the
Great lakes charter
The Milk and St Mary Rivers
 Appointment of the Waters of the St. Mary and
Milk River originating in Montana
 1909 Treaty said that the two rivers should be
treated as one steam and shared equally
 The 1921 Order, the 2 countries agrees to share
equally after 12 years of negotiation.
 US first 500 cfs from the Milk River, Canada first
500 cfc from St Mary during the irrigation season
 Recognized that the sharing was not 50-50 but
Canada got 58%
The Milk and St Mary Rivers
 The 1921 Order have been questioned 3 times
since: last in 2003 and now in 2005 Montana is
again complaining that:
 the Order does not equally divide the waters of the
2 river basins
 circumstances today are different than before 1921
 improvements are required to the administrative
procedures that implement the Order
Hydroelectric power-plants
the predominant form of electric generation in Canada
Reservoir capacity
larger than 1 billion m3
Diverted
Non-diverted
Started in 1900 and ended
during the 1960s and 70s
Few build since increased
environmental and
economic costs
Regions outside Canada
Columbia River Basin –
The Colombia River Treaty 1961
 The most developed
river system in the
world for hydro
 More than 400 dams
 More than 21 mil KW
Conflict of interest (not
just Colombia):
 Hydro
 Irrigation
 Fishing
 Environment
1 out of 400 dams: The Dallas Dam
 Since 1970s fish
catch dramatically
declined
 80% of fish caught
commercially from
hatcheries
 1992 salmon
endangered and in
1998 steelhead
 Introduction of fish
ladders