Province puts money toward finishing groundwater study
By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on January 29, 2025.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
The Alberta government on Tuesday announced it is investing close to $4 million to help study and map groundwater in southern Alberta.
The Alberta Geological Survey will be getting a total of $3.8 million to finish a three-year study which will map the quality, quantity and location of groundwater in southern Alberta.
The province says better understanding groundwater will help Alberta make the most of out of its water supplies.
“With growing communities and a thriving economy driving increased demand for water in Alberta, it’s more important than ever that we ensure we have a good understanding of all our sources of water, including groundwater. The results of this study will help ensure we are effectively managing our groundwater and improving the drought resilience of our communities and economy,” Rebecca Shultz, Minister of Environment and Protected Areas Rebecca Shultz, said in a statement.
The province says the southern Alberta groundwater evaluation will provide important details on aquifers and provide information to help regulatory decision makers as well as agricultural producers and rural communities who use groundwater.
The three-year study includes new hydrogeological mapping as well as three-dimensional modelling of aquifers in the Milk River and South Saskatchewan basins.
According to the government, groundwater made up 1.7 per cent of all water allocations in the South Saskatchewan River Basin with almost two-thirds of groundwater allocations for agricultural or municipal purposes. That basin includes the Oldman, Bow, South Saskatchewan and Red Deer River sub-basins. In 2023, 3.8 per cent of water allocations licensed in the province were from groundwater sources.
Rural areas of the province have more than 600,000 people who rely on groundwater for their drinking water.
In 2024, a two-year pilot project monitoring groundwater in the Oldman River watershed was also started by the Oldman Watershed Council and Living Lakes Canada.
In partnership with the Piikani Nation Lands Department, the project will use advanced geo-scanning technology consultations with communities and partnerships with owners of private wells to build a groundwater monitoring network.
Project lead Maggie Finkle-Aucoin told the Herald last July that “with surface water drying up, groundwater is going to become an increasingly important topic and we want to make sure that we’re contributing to data whenever it comes to the quantity of that water so that management strategies can be put in place while there’s still time to do so responsibly and not after the fact when we start to see groundwater drying up.”
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One might wonder what timeline this UCP government has in mind re: this ground water study, the Oldman River basin/watershed, and if/when open pit coal mining moves into full swing.
Those of us who rely greatly on ground water/aquifers, have serious concerns re: the levels of, and the quality of, water in our ground water/aquifers if open pit coal mining is allowed to proceed in the Oldman River watershed.
At this point, tracking ground water has merit, but this UCP government’s possible/probable motives are not to be trusted. Would they wish for the study to be done first, or, is it intended that the study would be ongoing if open pit coal mining starts, as well. Would the UCP government be willing to share results of the studies if contamination occurs subsequently?