Nicole Hancock
Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony ...

Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.

Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony to heal Chedoke Creek

southern Alberta

Water sharing agreements ‘helpful’ in a drought

Water sharing agreements ‘helpful’ in a drought

As reservoir levels stabilize in southern Alberta, a consulting company says it’s crucial that all stakeholders work together. Irrigation districts in southern Alberta managed a tough growing season as drought maintains a stubborn hold and calls for maintaining co-operation between stakeholders and better water storage infrastructure continues. From the Milk River along the U.S. border to the Hay River running into the Northwest Territories, 50 water shortage advisories are currently in place across the province.

Dwindling water supply leaves some southern Alberta farmers dry

Dwindling water supply leaves some southern Alberta farmers dry

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.

Alberta floods: 10 years later

Alberta floods: 10 years later

It’s been 10 years since the historic floods of southern Alberta that were deadly, expensive and resulted in the first ever declaration of a State of Provincial Emergency in Canadian history. Over 100,000 people were evacuated from their homes in communities throughout southern Alberta and five people lost their lives. There was more than $5 billion dollars in damages and 55,000 square kilometres of land was directly impacted by the floods; an area nearly 70 times the size of Calgary.

It's been 10 years since the Big Flood. How the changing climate is shaping life in Calgary

It's been 10 years since the Big Flood. How the changing climate is shaping life in Calgary

In the decade since the Big Flood of 2013, Calgary has seen a number of extreme weather events and scorching, smoky summer days. Four Calgary disasters are included in the Insurance Bureau of Canada's Top 10 list of costliest years for insured losses in Canada — three since the flood, the fourth occurring the year before. The past decade has seen a surprise September snowfall in 2014, a devastating hailstorm in 2020 that resulted in $1.2 billion in damages, and a sweltering and deadly heat dome in the summer of 2021. A number of "catastrophic" weather events have been recorded in almost every year since June 2013, resulting in billions of dollars in damages. 

Alberta's expensive, necessary thirst

Alberta's expensive, necessary thirst

The American Southwest is running out of freshwater. Recently, the Biden administration proposed to up-end legal rules and impose cuts to water allotments from the shrinking Colorado River. In arid southern Alberta, we understand the vulnerability. A century ago, the International Joint Commission — the body that rules on how Americans and Canadians co-manage water systems along the 49th parallel — grew out of a bitter dispute between settlers in Montana and Alberta over access to water.

Nature Conservancy of Canada purchases land for protection in southern Alberta

Nature Conservancy of Canada purchases land for protection in southern Alberta

The announcement comes a few months after the organization announced a $6.9-million campaign to save a 16.5-square-kilometre property called the Yarrow, which is also in southern Alberta but "a little farther north" from the latest project and just outside what's traditionally known as the Waterton Park Front. The Yarrow also features grasslands, wetlands, creeks, mixed forests and includes 27 wildlife species of provincial and national significance. There are two streams that provide fish habitat and transport water from Alberta's southern headwaters to rivers across the Prairies that flow to Lake Winnipeg and eventually Hudson Bay.

How a former ski hill in southern Alberta has become an important key to climate study

How a former ski hill in southern Alberta has become an important key to climate study

Virtually every snowflake that falls on Fortress Mountain in the Kananaskis region is recorded and watched. "We're in a time when we get extreme weather and a changing climate," said John Pomeroy, director of the University of Saskatchewan's Centre for Hydrology.  "We try to follow every drop of water, every flake of snow, and see where it's going." The Centre for Hydrology's Coldwater laboratory is made up of stations with instruments placed on the ridges, glaciers, valleys, and creeks in the Alberta Rockies. 

Nature Conservancy of Canada announces campaign to save landscape in southern Alberta

Nature Conservancy of Canada announces campaign to save landscape in southern Alberta

The Nature Conservancy of Canada has announced a $6.9-million campaign to save a distinctive landscape near Waterton Lakes National Park in southern Alberta. The 1,650-hectare property, called The Yarrow, is located near the hamlet of Twin Butte, about 80 kilometres southwest of Lethbridge. The NCC says the property features grasslands, wetlands, creeks and mixed forests and includes 27 wildlife species of provincial or national significance — including grizzly bears, birds called bobolinks and little brown bats.

Climate Changed: First Nation balances Western science with traditional knowledge

Climate Changed: First Nation balances Western science with traditional knowledge

The Prairie Blood coulee winds through a property on the Kainai Nation, also known as the Blood Tribe, in southern Alberta. On a warm fall day, about a dozen people haul willows, mulch, dirt and water to several spots along a dry creek bed. Some pound large posts into the ground. Technicians from Blood Tribe and volunteers from local environmental groups are building five beaver dam analogs, which mimic a natural logjam. They hope to restore the stream flow to help the landowner care for his animals and have more water for wildlife as the area experiences a decade-long drought.

'The water isn't supposed to look like this': Unbelievably, it's been nine years since our great flood

'The water isn't supposed to look like this': Unbelievably, it's been nine years since our great flood

In 2013, rain-swollen rivers burst their banks across southern Alberta, prompting more than a dozen towns to declare states of emergency. The province estimated more than 100,000 people in 30 communities were affected by what Premier Allison Redford later called the worst natural disaster in Alberta’s history, with damage pegged at more than $6 billion.

Century-old treaty stops Alberta farmers from using Milk River for much of the summer

Century-old treaty stops Alberta farmers from using Milk River for much of the summer

The Milk River looks great right now, according to farmer Elise Walker. It's high, it's flowing and it's fairly clean. For now, she and about 30 to 40 other families in southern Alberta can continue using the water to irrigate their farms, helping to get them through a very dry spring. In fact, Walker already started to irrigate her 607 hectares (1,500 acres) of land at the end of March — the earliest ever.

Water management critically important for southern Alberta

Water management critically important for southern Alberta

Water competition and conflict was the topic the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs dove into during its online session Thursday. Heading up the discussion was Dr. Dena McMartin, an environmental and agricultural engineer, faculty member and vice-president (research) at the University of Lethbridge, discussing the challenges, constraints and competing interests that are making water management increasingly difficult and important for southern Alberta.

Heatwaves and drought conditions devastating for southern Alberta farmers

Heatwaves and drought conditions devastating for southern Alberta farmers

Southern Alberta farmers say consistently hot weather combined with little rain in the last few months has been devastating for their crops this year. In July 2020, Kim Owen took a photo of his father Richard Owen standing in one of their fields in Wrentham, Alta., with a crop growing above his waist. On Saturday, Kim snapped another photo of his father in the exact same spot but this time the earth was yellow and dried crops barely grazed Richard's ankles.

Aussie Coal Mines Pose Big Threat to Southern Alberta’s Water: Study

Aussie Coal Mines Pose Big Threat to Southern Alberta’s Water: Study

A new scientific study on controversial metallurgical coal mines being proposed in southern Alberta’s famed eastern slopes says that the open-pit mines will leave a massive and irreversible footprint on water quality and quantity in the arid region. “Our study has identified significant risks to water quality and quantity and biological diversity in the Oldman River watershed,” Brad Stelfox, the lead author, told The Tyee. Stelfox is the province’s most prominent land use ecologist and founder of the ALCES group which models impact of human activity on natural systems over time.

"It's the drinking water for 2 million people across Canada" — Alberta ranchers take Kenney government to court

"It's the drinking water for 2 million people across Canada" — Alberta ranchers take Kenney government to court

In the larger scale, the watershed feeds 43 per cent of irrigated land, and provides water for 2 million people. The effect of mining on this area, and all downstream users, would be detrimental. The water runs all the way to Hudson Bay, and as Smith notes, “it’s not something that should be toyed with.” A lawyer involved in the challenge firmly believes that the Kenney government has broken the law. It impacts more than just ranchers, it will affect all of southern Alberta and the users of water from this watershed. The best case scenario for the challenge is that the Coal Policy will be reinstated and open-pit mountain top removal coal mining stopped.

Alberta government wants to rewrite the water use rules along eastern slopes of Rockies

Alberta government wants to rewrite the water use rules along eastern slopes of Rockies

The Alberta government wants to rewrite the rules on water use along the eastern slopes of the Rockies as part of its economic recovery plan, including a push for new coal developments in the area. Water use is highly restricted in southern Alberta due to concerns about supply, and new water licences cannot be issued, they have to be purchased from existing licence holders on the open market. The new plan put forward by the Alberta government would affect water pulled from the Oldman watershed above the dam.

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