Booming Alberta town close to maxing out its water licence capacity
CBC
Booming growth in Cochrane, Alta., is putting pressure on the town as it edges closer to maxing out its water licence capacity.
Like other municipalities in the region, the town relies on a licence to draw the water it needs from the Bow River. But with no new water licences being granted by the provincial government and a growing population, the community needs solutions.
In the mid-2000s, the province put a moratorium on applications for any new water licences for the entire South Saskatchewan basin, which includes the Bow, Red Deer and Old Man rivers.
Cochrane's mayor, Jeff Genung, describes the town as one of the fastest growing communities in Canada.
Its water licence is good for up to 44,000 residents, but it's now less than 6,000 people away from reaching that limit — as more and more housing developments are planned.
"It's paper water. It's not that the river is drying up and we're not going to have any water. This is the ability to be able to draw more water," said Genung.
"People think one day we're going to approve another subdivision and they're going to turn a tap on and not have water. That's not what we're talking about," he said. "But we're quickly getting to the place where we need to find more."
The town has been focusing on household water conservation, such as encouraging low-flow fixtures and toilets as well as limiting water during the summer months. This has worked to extend the life of the town's water licence and buy it some time.
The town has also been focused on fixing leaks in its water system to make sure it's not losing water needlessly, as part of a wider water strategy.
"It's getting to the end of tweaking these kinds of things, and now we have to find a real solution," said Genung.
The town has submitted an application with Alberta Environment as it seeks a solution, but it could take many months to process. It's also looking at the possibility of a new water treatment facility, storage and other infrastructure pieces for the longer term.
"It would be nice if the provincial government recognized those communities that rely on the Bow River basin for our drinking water. There's real costs to our community for additional licences. We could go on the water licence market and buy them, but they're 30-, 40-, 50-million dollars."
"We're in a unique situation in Alberta where we have a lot of the population but not a lot of the water. So it's really costly to continue to develop," he said.
Whatever the solution is, it needs to take the overall health and future of Alberta's rivers and aquatic ecosystems into account, according to an Alberta-based water advisory organization.
For the first time in 111 years, items once belonging to the late Albert Mullins were back in the hands of his family members thanks to the detective work of one Montreal historian.
The year that saw the remains of two First Nations women brought home from a Manitoba landfill and a search get underway for the remains of a third showed how far reconciliation efforts have come — and how far they still need to go, the families say
The RCMP has just released a warning stating there are dangerous, armed individuals on Big Island Cree Nation, near Meadow Lake.
A new land-use plan that Alberta’s government has for the province’s Upper Smoky region is drawing criticism from environmentalists who say they believe it lacks sufficient environmental safeguards, which poses a significant threat to the endangered southern woodland caribou.
Canadian officials made pains to show they were cracking down on illicit drug production in the country in 2025.
A year after the City of Hamilton cancelled its overnight warming bus, it is funding a new all-night warming centre for men at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church on James Street S.
This year has, without a doubt, been a turbulent one for the Canadian auto industry. Uncertainty dominated the sector — both for auto workers hit with job changes and companies trying to manage a mix of tariffs and changing market conditions.
A woman died at a ski resort in the Canadian Rockies over the weekend, after falling into deep snow.
Two pregnant women who would otherwise be living in a cold tent. A man whose leg wound was so bad it required intravenous medication. Two young people who no longer need to couch surf to get by.
The province has added 12 kilometres of designated trails for all-terrain vehicles in western Prince Edward Island that will connect existing routes in O’Leary and Tignish.
Every year, CBC North publishes hundreds of stories online — breaking news, investigative reporting, political coverage, community features, longform storytelling, and much more.
After a wild year in Canadian politics that began with Justin Trudeau's resignation and ended with Conservative MPs crossing the floor to join Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal government, 2026 is shaping up to be just as action-packed.
It became a rallying cry, a cultural touchstone, a marketing strategy and — our favourite — often described in international media as "a hockey term" or "a Canadian phrase."