Alberta merges its largest river basins as major update to water rules comes into effect

Alberta’s two largest river basins have become one, part of a suite of major updates to the province’s water rules that came into force this week.  

Outlined last year as part of a broad consultation around water availability in Alberta, the Peace/Slave and Athabasca basins, which already covered a huge swath of the province, have now been consolidated into the expansive Peace-Slave-Athabasca basin.

The province said oversight will be similar to how the province recognizes the Bow, Oldman, Red Deer and South Saskatchewan basins converging within Alberta as the South Saskatchewan River Basin.

Click the “before” and “now” buttons to see the changes to Alberta’s major river basins as part of the new water rules:

"During engagement, we heard from many Albertans who identified some issues that were acting as barriers to practical and efficient water sourcing," reads a statement attributed to Environment Minister Grant Hunter.

"Industries that span more than one major river basin can now pursue a water allocation from the most efficient and environmentally-friendly source, rather than being limited to only using water from one side of a basin boundary." 

The statement offered this as an example: "a large cattle operation that straddles the basin boundary can now use the most practical water source without having to apply for special authorization to move water across the property for stock watering."

The merger of the basins was just one part of a suite of new amendments to rules that govern Alberta’s water resources, introduced in the legislature in October.

Now, the province also allows for what it calls "lower-risk" interbasin diversion elsewhere, referring to the transfer of water from one major river basin to another. 

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), a lobby group that represents the oil and gas industry, had backed the proposed merger of the Peace/Slave and Athabasca basins during the consultations. 

Energy companies with holdings on both sides of a basin boundary have long been concerned about the duplication of water infrastructure. CAPP has argued that the consolidation would allow companies to access the most suitable water sources based on availability, reducing environmental impact.

Other groups have been more skeptical about the merger of the basins and about interbasin transfers more broadly. They argue those transfers bring with them risks tied to water chemistry and invasive species.

“They’ve effectively eliminated any consideration given to [interbasin transfers], ('lower-risk' or not), across a drainage area that covers 53 per cent of Alberta and contains 80 per cent of the province’s river flows by volume,” wrote Kennedy Halvorson, a conservationist with the Alberta Wilderness Association, in an email.

The Indigenous water watchdog group Keepers of the Water has also said it “strongly opposed” the proposal to merge the basins.