How does Alberta manage groundwater?

Part one of this two-part webinar provides a basic understanding of the current law and policy governing groundwater takings and protection in Alberta. Part two examines groundwater governance in other jurisdictions.

The purpose of the webinar is to familiarize viewers with Alberta's current government policy and regulatory initiatives and tools designed to protect groundwater. The webinar discusses groundwater management regimes in other jurisdictions with the intent to compare Alberta's regime and understand how these other places address key groundwater policy and legal issues and consider how new tools might benefit groundwater in Alberta.

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See also: Groundwater Policy II - Sustainable Groundwater Governance

About the Workshop Presenters

Claude Eckert is a senior hydrogeologist, employed with Alberta Environment for the last 21 years. He graduated from the University of Alberta, specializing in physical hydrogeology and petroleum geology. Claude has been involved with hundreds of municipal, agricultural, industrial and recreational projects throughout the province. As a result of the Department's "regionalization" initiative, Claude has spent the last 10 years focused mainly on groundwater management and licensing in southern Alberta. He has also participated in Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), groundwater policy development, regulatory review and groundwater monitoring initiatives.

Linda Nowlan is an environmental lawyer and a Faculty Research Associate at the new Program on Water Governance at UBC. Her previous experience includes ten years at West Coast Environmental Law, first as a staff lawyer and then as Executive Director. In 2001, the BC government appointed her to the Independent Drinking Water Review Panel, and in 2004 she was commissioned by the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation to write a report on groundwater regulation in Canada. Linda is a member of the Vancouver Foundation's Environment Committee, the Canadian Council of Academies' Expert Panel on Groundwater, and past president of the Board of Directors of Smart Growth BC.

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