Alberta is bracing for a summer drought

Another summer of dry conditions is on the provincial government's radar, prompting the creation of a water advisory committee as experts weigh what they can do now and prepare for the future.

Many rivers in the province are at record low levels, and many reservoirs are not meeting capacity expectations.

Now, to identify some solutions and prepare, six people have been appointed to a council to discuss and plan how the province will prepare.

Okotoks Mayor Tanya Thorne is one of the people on the new board.

“My community, we've been a leader in water conservation for over 20 years, and that makes us one of the lowest water users per capita,” he told CityNews. “I think the drought presents us with a great opportunity to be a leader in water management for this province.”

The committee is expected to act as an independent body to help the government conserve and manage water during droughts, while also supporting rural communities, farmers and ranchers.

Kerry Black, a researcher and professor at the University of Calgary, said a lot of planning is needed to manage the expected shortfalls.

“Winter water restrictions certainly mean we're facing summer water restrictions, and feed costs — not just for the crops we're looking at — cattle farms, which dominate parts of Alberta, are also going to be hit hard by water shortages. lack of snow and water,” he said.

Thorne said many Albertans should be prepared for what the future holds.

---

---

“We've seen a lot of communities in the last year significantly restrict outdoor irrigation or non-essential irrigation or water use, and I think we're going to see a lot of that next year,” he said.

Thorne said Southern Alberta is unique when it comes to drought conditions.

“Southern Alberta, in many ways, we're very unique when it comes to drought,” he said. “We've dealt with varying degrees of drought over the years, but we have the least amount of water in the province, but we have the largest population.”

Melissa Storey, provincial fire information officer, said it had been a very unusual start to the years with the staggering amount of wildfires last year.

“Even though we're seeing average rainfall across the province, we're still seeing high fire danger, especially in the northern parts of the province,” he explained. “We left the fall with very high fire danger and we'll probably see that again in the spring.”

Victoria Ostendorf, senior wildlife information officer, agrees and says crews are very busy up north right now.

“Fire can dig deep into the ground, especially in this area where there are deep layers of peat moss, so not only does it dig deep, but it can travel like a wildfire and re-emerge,” he explained.

There are currently 60 forest fires burning in the province.

---

SEE: Below-average snowfall in southern Alberta won't help drought conditions: experts

---

The government is taking a unified approach; In a statement, Environment and Protected Areas Minister Rebecca Schultz says we're all in this together when it comes to water.

He adds that the committee meets frequently to determine what the province can do to ensure there is no need to place water restrictions.

However, the Alberta Wildlife Association (AWA) said Thursday it was unhappy that no environmental groups were included in the province's new drought committee.

The organization says this is particularly encouraging because the government has made room for industry to join the board.

AWA is asking the province to include diverse representation, including Indigenous voices.

Dry conditions are ideal for forest fires and bugs

While many people are enjoying the unseasonably warm temperatures that this winter has brought, experts warn that it could spell big trouble for farmers.

Considering possible drought conditions in the wake of El Niño, a mild winter will create a perfect storm for locusts.

Boyd Morey is Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Environmental Etymology at the University of Alberta.

He said locusts could be a big problem this summer unless temperatures drop as expected in the fall.

“It really helps keep our insects in check, so in other areas of the world, if we think about tropical or other temperate areas, insects can have several generations a year,” he explained. “This may give the female locusts longer to lay eggs in the soil, and because the locust population was very high last year, there may be more eggs to overwinter in the soil.”

Morey said that the cold is good for destroying agricultural pests that live in the upper layer, and the lack of a steady decrease in temperature and snow means that the pest has a high chance of breeding.

Although it's not an exact science, he says the goal is to reach 20 C for about two weeks.

“Even if the air temperature is -20 C, -30 C, the ground temperature can be -10 C under good snow, so insects can survive in those temperatures,” Mori explained.

Last summer, about 15 municipalities in southern Alberta declared an agricultural emergency.