Water shortages are a major risk of climate change. Alberta may already be seeing warning signs

Our planet is changing. So is our journalism. This story is part of a CBC News initiative entitled "Our Changing Planet" to show and explain the effects of climate change and what is being done about it.

At a quiet, isolated section of the Oldman River in southwestern Alberta, it's a calm day. In this corner of the province, extremely strong winds can sometimes spoil outings to the river — but today, it's tranquil.

That's exactly how local resident and fly fisherman Bob Costa likes it. An angler for around 40 years, Costa has long sought the refuge of fishing, whether solo or with a companion.

"It's an environment that has always caused me to find peace. Peace and relaxation," Costa said. "I would hate to see that disrupted."

In this section of the Oldman, Costa explains, there's a great deal of structure. There are rocks on the dry bank and in the river itself. And the more cover you have, the greater the chances of finding fish like rainbow trout, bull trout and cutthroat trout.

But this year, Costa said, he's been seeing some of the lowest flow rates on the river he can ever recall.

"The river finds its way lower and lower and lower," Costa said. "In fact, to the point that as low as it is now, I won't even fish it. Because the fish are too stressed, and they're in oxygen debt."

What's happening in this section of the Oldman River comes as no surprise, experts say, and the effects of climate change could lead to water shortages across Alberta in years to come.

"We're already in the climate catastrophe era," said James Byrne, a geography professor at the University of Lethbridge who has studied climate change for more than 30 years.

No part of the globe or this country is immune from the effects of climate change.

But Canada's Prairie provinces could be particularly hard hit, experts say, due to the fact they are among the highest industrial and commercial users of water in the country, partly because of the agricultural sector. 

In dry southern Alberta, the agricultural sector relies on irrigation — the process of watering crops artificially instead of relying on rainfall.

Last October, the provincial government announced Alberta's irrigation system would receive an $815-million upgrade, which would be used to bury canals, add 208,000 acres of irrigable land and expand storage.

The use of water in the southern part of Alberta is restricted. New licences for water can't be issued; they must be purchased from existing licence holders.