Grainswest - Tech 2025

Tech 2025 grainswest.com 9 BY EMILY R. JOHNSON • PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID STANLEY Aquiferassessment $3.8-million project will map southern Alberta groundwater FARMERS AND RURAL communities in southern Alberta are heavily dependent on the health of the region’s ground and surface water re- sources. Much of the province’s 815,000 hectares of public and private irrigation is contained within the South Saskatch- ewan River Basin (SSRB). Here, 13 districts serve 556,000 hectares of farm- land and 40 communities that include Calgary, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat as well as many rural properties. To enhance the management of the SSRB and Milk River Basin (MRB), the provincial government has initiated a $3.8 million groundwater mapping project. The three-year study will assess the quality, quantity and location of aquifers in the two basins. A similar study in the 1980s focused on groundwater exploration rather than the support of groundwater resource allocation. According to the government, the enhanced approach will update and fill gaps in existing data. It will also guide regulatory decision-making and enable greater efficiency of water usage by the Province’s irrigation system. While the MRB is relatively small and contains no cities or irrigation districts, farmers who employ its irrigation system are the largest water users in the basin. Rivers and smaller tributaries provide most of the water used within the two basins. Groundwater supplies just two per cent of usage, but a wide variety of users put significant pressure on the re- source, nonetheless. Irrigation accounts for 75 per cent of water use in the region and draws from ground and surface sup- ply. The system must maintain a careful balance as reliance on groundwater can deplete aquifers and reduce base flow for rivers and impact downstream users. The provincial grant will support a three-year study of the two basins by the Alberta Geological Survey. In its analysis, the project will employ ad- vanced hydrogeological mapping, high-resolution geological mapping and 3D modelling to a depth of approximately 700 metres. “This foundational geologi- cal and hydrogeological characterization is helping to identify prospective aquifer systems,” said Ryan Fournier, press sec- retary of the environment and protected areas ministry. The study will also better quantify the effects additional groundwater use may have on surface water availability and connected ecosystems, he added. “An easily accessible data hub and repository, along with an interactive map, will help decision-makers, water licence holders and stakeholders access one location to retrieve pertinent geological and hydro- geological information about ground- water resources. Better information will help support effective regulatory deci- sions in the future.” This detailed information is crucial for farmers, said Fournier. “It will enable more efficient water usage, particularly in irrigation, by providing data on groundwa- ter availability and recharge rates.” Though Alberta’s groundwater map- ping project will assist regulatory deci- sion-making, it will be insufficient on its own as groundwater systems are variable, said Grant Ferguson, professor in the Department of Civil, Geological and En- vironmental Engineering at the Univer- sity of Saskatchewan. “Most regulatory decisions will require additional ground- water investigations at a local scale, which typically involve re-examination of available data, test drilling, hydraulic testing and collection of water quality data. These sorts of mapping exercises need to be revisited every few decades as our overall understanding of groundwa- ter systems improves along with available mapping technologies.” The South Saskatchewan River Basin (above) and the smaller Milk River Basin are the subjects of a three-year study that will assess the quality, quantity and location of their aquifers.