Water rights are an important part of Alberta's history. They were issued to settle the West giving farmers access to water. In 1894, the Dominion of Canada passed the North West Irrigation Act, which created a system for how water rights were allocated in a system known as First-In-Time First-In-Right (FITFIR). A water right now is associated with land. In other words, land with a water right would pass along to the next buyer

Click the headings below to learn about water rights and Alberta's current water allocation system. Click here to learn more about the issues facing the current allocation system, and the process for reviewing it.

What is a water right in Alberta?

A water right is the maximum amount of water that is licensed for use. For example, a business will have a water right when they are issued a water license from the provincial government.

A licensed user is authorized to divert water from rivers and lakes (known as surface water) or from the ground sources such as aquifers (known as groundwater) . According to the Alberta Water Act, a water right - or allocation - is provided to a water user (such as an irrigation district, municipality, or business) in the form of a license.

How is water allocated among different types of uses in Alberta?

SOURCE: Alberta Environment, 2006

Most of the water rights issued in Alberta are to divert surface water such as lakes and rivers. A small amount - only three percent - of water rights are for groundwater.

How much water are we talking about?

We are talking about a lot of water. Yet, in some parts of the province, we are running out. By 2005, water rights issued by the provincial government totalled more than 9.5 billion cubic meters of water. That is an amount that could fill Calgary's Saddledome 43,000 times!

How are water rights managed?

The current water rights system in Alberta is called First-In-Time and First-In-Right (FITFIR) which was designed in the late 1800s. In short, it is a "first come, first serve" system. For example, a water right that was issued in the early 1900s will have a higher priority to water than someone who received a license more recently.

FITFIR gives priority to senior licences (generally those issued before the 1950s). When there is a water shortage, senior license holders get first priority to take as much water as they want in their water allocation, with subsequent priority going to more junior licencees. Under this system, the more junior your licence, the less likely you are to receive water in low water years.

It is important to note that some communities in Southern Alberta are junior license holders and are expected to run out of water in the next five to ten years. Also, FITFIR does not issue "water rights" for the environment .

Learn more about how FITFIR works

The amount of water available to us varies from year to year depending on snow and rainfall. As a result, we have both high water years and low water years.

Keep in mind that the amount of water allocated (e.g. water rights are issued) in every basin varies.

For example, in a high water year, there might be 10 million cubic metres of water flowing through a river system. "Senior" water rights issued in the early 1900s take up seven million cubic metres of that water for agriculture, commercial, and industrial use. Cities and towns have water rights for two million cubic metres but they are "junior" rights because they were issued in the 1970s. All of the water left over is for the environment. So, in a high water year, every sector gets the water it needs.

In a low water year, there will be a shortage of water - only eight million cubic meters of water available in the river. Again, the agricultural, commercial, and industrial sectors have senior licenses having first priority to seven million cubic meters of water. Next in line are the cities and towns with "junior" licenses. In this example, some cities and towns might not have any access to water so cities and towns can only withdraw one million cubic meters when then need 2 million cubic meters. This scenario does not leave the river with any water.

If we are running out of water, why do I always see water in my river?

Even in low water years, there can be water in the river. Why? This occurs for several reasons. First, not all water rights are being used. In fact, 55 percent of all water rights issued are not being used . Second, some users return water back to the river. For example, municipalities can return as much water as they divert. Finally, water rights holders divert water at different points in a river system. In a low water year, the river might be extremely low below a diversion while its flow upstream of the diversion is fine.