As water sources dry up, towns in southern Quebec sound the alarm

During an unrelenting stretch of dry, hot weather last August, Rachel Mahannah and her husband spent two hours a day hauling water from their other farm a kilometre and a half away, to make sure their dairy cows didn't get dehydrated.

The well on the dairy farm, 70 metres deep, had almost run dry.

"That was the first kind of red flag that came up for us," said Mahannah, who co-owns Mahvhays dairy farm in Brigham, Que., about 75 kilometres southeast of Montreal. 

The farm is a modest operation with 65 head of cattle, including 35 dairy cows. Mahannah estimates they need about 4,000 litres of water per day — more than the well could provide.  Mahannah said the farm was in survival mode for about two weeks.

Their home relies on the same well, so Mahannah's family had to ration water, which meant taking their three children elsewhere to shower. 

They plan to dig another well soon, but going forward, Mahannah said, farmers like her need a backup plan, as droughts become longer and more frequent.

"I think the water supply is an issue that we've kind of taken for granted," she said.

Blessed with thousands of lakes, rivers and streams, Quebec is home to three per cent of the world's fresh water. 

But in southern Quebec, particularly, a growing population, high water consumption and increasingly dry summers are putting a strain on the water supply.

Alain Bourque, executive director of Ouranos, a Quebec research consortium on climate change, blames in part the increased evaporation that comes with warmer spring temperature. 

"If you don't get additional precipitation to compensate for this additional evaporation, then all of the water levels in rivers, lakes, etc., in general will be trending downward."

Because Quebec has historically had water in abundance, Bourque said the economy has come to count on it.

"If you go to California, you will notice that agricultural producers use water a bit more efficiently, and that's because they're adapted to their weather."

That adaptation needs to begin here now, and quickly, Bourque said, beginning with improved planning and better co-ordination between municipalities.