FACTSHEET: Eastern Irrigation District Amendment Proposal

Background

On March 17, 2010, a public notice appeared on the Alberta Environment website that the Eastern Irrigation District proposed to amend one its licence. This same license was one of two proposed by the Eastern Irrigation District to be amended in August 21, 2007. The current notice reads:

"Notice is given that [the] Eastern Irrigation District filed an application to amend a water license with priority number 1998-07-13-002, to allow the District to provide water for purposes other than irrigation. The maximum volume for the District under their current water license will not change, nor will the rate of diversion from the Bow River. The additional purposes are: municipal, agriculture, commercial, industrial, habitat enhancement and recreation."

The amendment would affect 5000 acre-feet (6,167,409 m³). The purpose of the current license is for "irrigation." The proposed new uses will be for "municipal, agricultural, commercial, industrial, habitat enhancement, and recreation."

 

Opportunity to Submit Statement of Concern by April 19, 2010

Any person who is directly affected by the application may submit a Statement of Concern on or before April 19, 2010 to:

Alberta Environment

Southern Region, Approvals - Calgary

2nd Floor, Deerfoot Square

2938 - 11 Street, N.E.

Calgary, Alberta T2E 7L7

Attention: Randy Poon

Fax: (403) 297-2749

Please quote file number 631-A File 00265983

http://www3.gov.ab.ca/env/water/Regions/Bow/Notices/files/5608.html

 

How much water is this?

In the Bow River basin, 76.35 percent of the water is allocated to irrigation use (2,114,963,934 m³). The Eastern Irrigation District holds the largest license in the Bow River Basin and is the largest license holder in the larger South Saskatchewan River Basin. The proposed amount of water up for amendment, 5,000 acre feet (6,167,409 m³).  

 

What is the EID?

The Eastern Irrigation District is one of thirteen Irrigation Districts found in Alberta. The EID has the largest land base and the second largest number of irrigated acres of these Irrigation Districts.

"The EID is farmer owned and operated and is situated in the prairie region of south eastern Alberta ecosystem. There are 1.5 million acres within the District's boundaries, making the EID 500 square kilometers (200 square miles) larger then the Province of Prince Edward Island. The Red Deer River forms the north east boundary and the Bow River the south west boundary of the District. The EID includes over 260,000 acres of irrigated crop land, 600,000 acres of prairie grasslands owned by the EID, with the remainder being non-irrigated crop land, privately owned grasslands and three Provincial Parks (Kinbrook Island Provincial Park, Tillebrook Provincial Park and Dinosaur Provincial Park)."[1]

 

What does this amendment change?

Climate change, a growing population, and growing economy have increased the demand for water in Alberta. As a result of these pressures, this year the Government of Alberta is reviewing how water licences are allocated[2]. The current water market, known as a water rights transfer system, requires three important reviews for each transfer of water under a licence: a public review, government review, and a hydrological review. 

This amendment would allow the EID to allocate a portion of its license without having to utilize the transfer system set up by the Alberta government, allowing for the reassignment of all or a portion of a water license to another user[3]. In other words, the portion of water amended under the licence would not have to undergo any of the reviews that the current transfer system requires. This effectively would move the EID towards becoming a water broker.

It appears that the EID intends to "reallocate," without benefit of an adequate review, water allocated to the EID specifically for the singular use of irrigation/agriculture. Without a comprehensive review, it is difficult to determine how it would impact the public, the environment, or the economy. Moving towards being a water broker could also hamper options available to Alberta in its forthcoming water allocation review. This is problematic because currently in Alberta water for basic human needs and healthy rivers is not prioritized uses under current legislation. The proposed amendment does not guarantee water to remain as a public good with public oversight.

How will this affect the EID's actual water use?

The EID proposes spreading the 5000 acre feet across municipal, agricultural, commercial, industrial, habitat and recreation uses, however specific end users and destinations for the allocation are not named. It is clear, however, that the EID would have added flexibility that would allow them to allocate "unused" portions of their license to other uses. The total EID license is 762,000 acre feet. Between 1976 and 2004, the EID on average used 76 percent of their allocation. In 2004, they used 54 percent of their license and in 2001 used 90 percent of their license. Given the size of the EID license, the "unused" portion of their water even in water short years would be considered fairly sizeable.

 

Eastern Irrigation District

Diversion from Bow River Year and acre-feet of water diverted

1976 - - - 565100 1977 - - - 572100 1978 - - - 387100 1979 - - - 542846 1980 - - - 548686 1981 - - - 577969 1982 - - - 481258 1983 - - - 580299 1984 - - - 657640 1985 - - - 655188 1986 - - - 680592 1987 - - - 639928 1988 - - - 730274 1989 - - - 605148

1990 - - - 689178 1991 - - - 629872 1992 - - - 625650 1993 - - - 423551 1994 - - - 559476 1995 - - - 602098 1996 - - - 615478 1997 - - - 572151 1998 - - - 638500 1999 - - - 426788 2000 - - - 675000 2001 - - - 685000 2002 - - - 562000 2003 - - - 459700 2004 - - - 417370

 

Avg. Volume - 579515 (acre feet) Water Licence Allocation 762000 (acre feet)[4]

 

 

 

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[1] See Eastern Irrigation District. 2010. http://www.eid.ab.ca/about.htm. Eastern Irrigation District (Accessed April 12, 2010).

[2] See http://www.waterforlife.alberta.ca/563.html, Water Matter's Share the Water campaign: http://www.water-matters.org/program/share-the-water, and Sierra Club's Got Thirst http://www.gotthirstalberta.ca/.

[3] While there are at least three known precedents where Alberta Environment approved amendments for irrigation, there has never been a legal resolution of whether it is legally permissible to amend water licenses based on a change of use. In 2003, a proposed amendment to an irrigation license for the Saint Mary's River Irrigation District resulted in a legal challenge by the Southern Alberta Group for the Environment. Unfortunately, the substantive arguments made by SAGE were never heard by the Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) as they were denied "standing" to pursue their arguments. Their Statement of Concern read in part, "We are concerned that by transferring authority for decisions about the purposes for which water allocations will be used to a private irrigation district the Director would be abrogating authority of the Minister responsible for the Water Act. It is our understanding that if this amendment is approved, the Board of the St. Mary River Irrigation District could allocate water under the licence not only for irrigation but for any purpose which its members believe would benefit the District. The private Board would not be bound to consider the matters and factors contained in an approved water management plan, water guideline or water conservation objective or any of the other considerations defined in section 51(4) of the Water Act including effects on the aquatic environment, hydrology and other users and public safety. In short, decisions made by the Irrigation District would not need to consider the public good, and in fact may be contrary to it."

 

[4] See Alberta Agriculture, Food, and Rural Development, Irrigation Branch, "Alberta Irrigation

Districts Annual Irrigation Diversions" (29 March 2010), online: Alberta Government. http://www1. agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/irr8782 (Accessed April 12, 2010).