Grainswest - Spring 2022

Spring 2022 Grains West 20 Wetlands are also a key environmental structure farmers can invest in and take the time to manage well. As evaporation occurs, if the wetland is healthy enough, it can cause the formation of clouds, which can contribute to rain, ideally upon the farmland where it’s situated. “That can be part of breaking the drought,” he said. As some farmers already know and experience, increased temperatures bring new crop opportunities, specifically corn and soybean. “There will almost certainly be changes to crop varieties favourable to ones that can manage the stresses,” said Pomeroy. Of course, much of this means nothing without a proper warning system in place, and Pomeroy said while Canadian forecasting tools have greatly improved over the last decade, the hydrological tools available to farmers are still in the Stone Age. “Short-term weather forecasts have really improved, down to as fine a resolution as one kilometre, but have to be coupled to hydrological forecasts, including runoff and infiltration.” Part of the challenge is that water management solutions are governed provincially and since the demise of the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration the federal government has a greatly reduced role in development of solutions. Naturally, watersheds, lakes, rivers and tributaries pay little attention to provincial borders, which makes the issue more complicated when two or more provinces—or America—want to manage the same waterway. “If Saskatchewan is trying to plan for its water development, it’s very dependent on what happens upstream in Alberta,” he said. “Both provinces want to increase irrigation acres, but there hasn’t been an assessment to ensure there’s enough to do that.” Expert water staffing is varied and fragmented among the provinces, as are monitoring, prediction and reporting intervals. “What they all have in common is they’re underfunded and understaffed and don’t have sufficient information on soil moisture in fields, streamflow and precipitation,” said Pomeroy. “Groundwater is even more fragmented and monitored very differently in each province even though aquifers cross provincial boundaries. These provincial agencies are struggling with inadequate resourcing and capacities.” He pointed to countries whose water management systems are better integrated. These include the U.S., with the Mississippi draining across 32 states, and the 10 countries that collectively manage the Danube River across Europe. “We haven’t done it with the Saskatchewan River system partly because we haven’t had a disaster to make us to do that,” he said flatly. Written in 1970, the Canadian Water Act continues to guide policy making today but does not mention Indigenous groups or climate change. Both of these are big issues that Pomeroy said need to be addressed for concerted improvement to occur. Snowmanagement will become more important as water scarcity makes every millimetre of annual precipitation precious. FEATURE