Western Standard - April 19, 2024


Southern Alberta Prepares for Drought Emergency

Topics
water sharing discussions water sharing agreements
'We Should Stop Trying To Fight Against Quebec’s Independence' The Trudeau Liberal government unveils Federal Plastics Registry to 'combat' plastic pollution...

Episode Stats


Length

5 minutes

Words per minute

165.8

Word count

991

Sentence count

54

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Learn English with Alberta s Premier Rachel Notley. Alberta is facing the worst drought in decades and is working together with First Nations, First Nations and non-governmental organizations to find a way to manage the situation. In this episode, Rachel talks about the importance of water sharing agreements and how Albertans are working together to ensure there is enough water to meet growing demand.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
00:00:00.000 We've faced many droughts before and we have gotten through them by working together to secure
00:00:04.920 our province's water supply. This year, we are taking this challenge head-on. The past month or
00:00:11.340 two have brought more snow and rain, which absolutely has improved our situation slightly.
00:00:16.800 But snow on our mountains is still low and that snow melt fills our rivers. Many reservoirs are
00:00:22.060 still low and ground is already dry from last year. If we have a hot dry spring, we still could
00:00:27.680 see severe droughts in parts of our province. But here's the thing about Albertans, that we are
00:00:33.560 resilient. We don't just sit back and wait for things to happen. We all do our part. And today's
00:00:39.340 announcement is absolutely proof of that. As early as last fall, we knew that Alberta could face a 0.99
00:00:45.140 significant drought this year. We also knew that in 2001, water sharing agreements between irrigators
00:00:51.360 and others helped the province get through a major drought. That is why we launched the new water
00:00:58.040 sharing discussions in February of this year. We knew these agreements were the most effective tool
00:01:03.340 available to conserve water and, of course, to make every drop count. But our province has grown a lot
00:01:09.480 since 2001. To truly prepare, we knew that we needed to go bigger. And that's really why this year's
00:01:16.300 discussions were the largest in Alberta's history. Irrigation districts, industry, communities,
00:01:22.220 and many others participated. First Nations and non-governmental organizations also joined the
00:01:28.300 conversations. I'm proud to announce that as a result of this hard work, four new memorandums of
00:01:34.100 understanding have been developed for the Bow River Basin, the Red Deer River Basin, the Old Man River
00:01:39.800 Basin, and the upper tributaries of the Old Man River Basin. The biggest and oldest water license users
00:01:45.960 in each basin came together to voluntarily agree to reduce the water use if severe drought conditions
00:01:52.760 do, in fact, develop this summer. These agreements, they didn't come together overnight. They represent
00:01:59.100 countless hours of negotiation, compromises, and a shared belief that Albertans are better off
00:02:04.960 working together in a potential time of water scarcity. The key is that we base these agreements
00:02:10.240 again on water levels that were last seen in 2001. We now forecast to have more water available this year,
00:02:17.340 so these agreements will only be implemented or activated if they are needed, and they will be regularly
00:02:23.380 adjusted as drought conditions change. These agreements are designed to be proactive, agile, and flexible enough to be
00:02:30.420 adjusted in real time as we see conditions change. Specific commitments are laid out in each one of the MOUs,
00:02:37.240 which are designed for the water users in that specific area. However, generally speaking,
00:02:43.840 municipalities in these basins have agreed to voluntarily reduce their water consumption by 5-10%.
00:02:50.300 The exact amount will vary by community and, of course, on drought conditions as they change.
00:02:57.920 Industries are also stepping up, committing to use the absolute minimum amount of water needed to maintain
00:03:03.140 safe, reliable operations and find innovative ways to conserve water. And irrigation districts,
00:03:09.780 whose members rely on water for their livelihoods, have agreed to use less and put others first.
00:03:15.660 They will let municipalities, First Nations, industry, and other water users receive their water,
00:03:20.420 and irrigation districts will divide up the remaining supply for growing crops and feeding livestock.
00:03:25.700 If it sounds complicated, that is absolutely because it is. Water is used by many people in many
00:03:32.760 different ways, pulling from many different points within our system. Starting in May, we will evaluate
00:03:38.300 and update the actual water use and conservation measures that users take every two weeks, so that
00:03:44.080 we're adjusting water based on how much is actually available at any given time. As water levels drop,
00:03:50.660 so will consumption. As they rise, so will the amount that can be used. Of course, our work is not done.
00:03:57.800 We'll implement and adjust these agreements as needed throughout the summer. We're also reaching out
00:04:02.760 to the smaller or junior water licensees not participating in these specific water sharing
00:04:08.160 agreements, including private irrigators and smaller municipalities. We will be strongly encouraging
00:04:13.900 them to decrease their water use and implement reduction measures. Our staff will directly be engaging with
00:04:19.720 water users, especially across southern Alberta, to identify practical ways to save water. We will also be
00:04:27.000 releasing our drought emergency response plan next week, and we will be making more practical changes to
00:04:32.740 reduce red tape so all people on this stage behind me can respond to changing conditions this summer as well.
00:04:39.440 These agreements are landmark achievements. Thanks to these new forward-looking water sharing agreements,
00:04:46.460 communities will have the water they need to drink, to ensure we're protecting human health, to fight
00:04:54.300 wildfires as well, and farmers and ranchers are assured a fair share to help feed our province and
00:05:00.300 businesses will continue to keep our economy growing. Today, we've done more than simply manage water. We have
00:05:06.620 modeled the spirit of collaboration that makes Alberta strong. Because of these agreements, we stand better
00:05:12.860 prepared for whatever the future may bring, knowing that we did this together. And all of that, of course,
00:05:18.780 is due to the generosity, commitment, and leadership of all of the folks behind me. Our province owes them
00:05:25.500 a sincere debt of gratitude. As Minister of Environment and Protected Areas, as well as an Albertan,
00:05:32.220 I also want to say thank you. Thank you to every single person behind me and everyone else who signed on as part of
00:05:39.020 these MOUs. By working to develop these water sharing agreements, you've absolutely demonstrated
00:05:43.820 that leadership, dedication, and community spirit that makes our province great. This is definitely
00:05:48.620 not the first drought that we have faced here in Alberta, and it won't be the last, but the agreements
00:05:54.300 that we have reached and that we're releasing today will be the model that is used for years to come.