Project co-funded by the Government of Canada's Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Program and the Prairie Adaptation Research Collaborative.

Objective

This project will assess the current sensitivity of regional socio-economic systems to changes in water supply, and the future vulnerability of these systems under projected changes to the environment, economy and society of the South Saskatchewan River Basin (SSRB).

 

 

The SSRB extends from the Continental Divide, through southern Alberta and into south-central Saskatchewan. A small portion of the basin extends into the United States but is not directly considered in this project. The SSRB contains four major sub-basins: the Red Deer, Oldman, Bow and South Saskatchewan. Several major reservoirs regulate river flows in the basin. Water supplied to the major tributaries of the SSRB is generated from snow and melting glaciers in the Rocky Mountains. Roughly 90% of the total South Saskatchewan River flow comes from the Rocky Mountains and 10% is contributed from runoff in the prairie region of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Soil moisture conditions and runoff in the prairie region of the basin are dependent on local snowfall and rainfall.

 

The current population of the SSRB is estimated at 1.5 million people. Of this, roughly 20% are in Saskatchewan and 80% in Alberta. Less than 5% of the population is estimated to live in rural communities. The largest urban centre is Calgary with a population of just under 1 million people. Differences in resource availability, institutions and policies, and economic activities between Alberta and Saskatchewan have produced different economies. Therefore, it might be expected that they will respond differently to changes in water availability. For example, in the Alberta portion of the basin, the predominant industries are oil and gas, agriculture and manufacturing. In the Saskatchewan portion, the predominant industries are agriculture, manufacturing and mining.