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Originally Posted by Chadillaccc
I was shocked to find we didn't have a climate change discussion thread in the Canada section yet. As anthropogenic global climate change is beginning to affect Canadian urban areas, I feel like it is a topic of concern for most of us here.
Some disturbing new information about climate change in Southwestern Alberta and Calgary's abilities to keep the region adequately... moist? in the future was released today. While Calgary appears (temperature-wise) to be one of the cities least affected by climate change over the next 50 years, we are to be severely impacted by the disappearance of glaciers and extreme weather events as the primary clash zone between Pacific and Arctic systems.
Calgary could reach daily water licence limit by 2036
Calgary could reach the provincial limit on daily water withdrawals from the Bow and Elbow rivers within less than 20 years, thanks to population growth and climate change, the city said Monday.
MEGHAN POTKINS | CALGARY HERALD | May 14, 2019
Full story: https://calgaryherald.com/news/local...-limit-by-2036 |
That article isn't really about climate change. While flow volumes in the Bow river may decline, Calgary's water entitlement isn't in question. If Calgary does run up against its entitlement, the root cause will be growth, not a possible reduction of the entitlement due to climate change.
Another point to consider is that the vast majority (78%) of water entitlement in the Bow basin is to agriculture. See page 9 of: https://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$Department/deptdocs.nsf/all/irr13053/$FILE/ssrb2010.pdf. Agriculture accounts for 78% of water use in the Bow basin.
Maybe Alberta should consider additional water storage in conjunction with flood protection when looking at new dam and diversion projects. The Springbank project would do nothing for storage. No storage has been added upstream of Calgary since the Bearspaw Dam in 1954.