Dwindling water supply leaves some southern Alberta farmers dry
CBC
The Bolduc family has been farming and ranching near Stavely, Alta., for generations and this year will be remembered for its scorching heat, lack of rain, parched fields, reduced yields and water restrictions.
It's something their family and many others have seen before, but it doesn't make it any easier as they look to harvest whatever they can from their barley, alfalfa and corn fields.
David Bolduc's farm and ranch operation is partly irrigated from the Pine Coulee off-stream reservoir in the Willow Creek basin west of Claresholm. The reservoir is down significantly this year and people who rely on it for drinking water and irrigation have been told the supply is dwindling and, in some cases, no longer available.
"This has been the first time since they built Pine Coulee that our water has been shut off, essentially," he said.
Record-breaking high temperatures across southern Alberta, a lack of rain and evaporation in reservoirs have led to more than 30 water shortage advisories across the province. Farmers, ranchers, rural municipalities, cities, towns and villages have been told to cut back on water use.
An advisory for Milk River and Sage Creek, south of Lethbridge and east to the Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary, states there is "no natural flow" available for irrigation diversion, which are shut down. No more temporary diversion applications are being accepted.
The Pine Coulee reservoir was built almost 25 years ago and provides irrigation and drinking water for a number of farms, along with the towns of Claresholm and Granum and the M.D. of Willow Creek — areas that have had restricted non-essential water use for more than a month and there's no end in sight.
"People are generally understanding that water levels are low and that they all have a role to play in conserving our limited water supply," said Abe Tinney, the chief administrative officer for the town of Claresholm.
The reservoir is currently less than a third full.
It's the first time the town of 3,800 has imposed Stage 3 water restrictions since the reservoir was built. Tinney says the restrictions will likely remain in effect until spring 2024 and possibly longer depending on the amount of snowpack melt and spring rainfall.
Tinney says the restrictions have led to a 25-per-cent reduction in water use. He says while no fines have been issued for non-compliance, several warnings have been sent out.
Almost all of south, southeast and central Alberta is experiencing drought conditions, ranging from severe, extreme to exceptional, which is described as a 1-in-50-year event.
The St. Mary reservoir, south of Lethbridge, is virtually empty at three per cent capacity.
Irrigators, who are entitled to a certain allocation based on inches of water per acre, have already had their water shares reduced by the St. Mary River Irrigation District (SMRID), which oversees 15 reservoirs that irrigate 500,000 acres (202,342 hectares) of farmland.