{"id":436997,"date":"2026-01-27T18:47:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T18:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/436997\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T18:47:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T18:47:27","slug":"the-links-between-alberta-water-decisions-and-nwt-water-levels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/436997\/","title":{"rendered":"The links between Alberta water decisions and NWT water levels"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This is the first of two articles on the relationship between water in Alberta and water in the Northwest Territories. This article focuses on water quantity \u2013 including how Alberta water usage impacts water levels in the NWT.<\/p>\n

What happens to Alberta\u2019s water can have a direct impact on NWT communities and ecosystems downstream. And there\u2019s a lot going on with Alberta\u2019s water right now.<\/p>\n

That includes increasing water use by oil and agriculture industries, a proposed nuclear plant on Peace River, and upcoming changes to Alberta\u2019s Water Act.<\/p>\n

Here, we take a look at some of the biggest issues around the quantity of water in the NWT.<\/p>\n

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\"\"This federal map shows the watersheds of the NWT, with the Mackenzie River basin shown inside a large black outline. See the full-size map here<\/a>. Water from much of Alberta, bottom centre, flows north into the NWT and ultimately out into the Arctic Ocean.<\/p>\n

How are water levels now?<\/p>\n

Water levels remain low across the territory as a result of the years-long drought that\u2019s covered much of the NWT since 2022.<\/p>\n

While there are a few exceptions within some smaller systems, overall recovery has been pretty minimal across the territory, says hydrologist Emma Gregory, who works at the NWT\u2019s Department of Environment and Climate Change.<\/p>\n

One bright spot is that there\u2019s been pretty good early season accumulation in the Slave River Basin, which contributes about 80 percent of the water flowing into Great Slave Lake.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It could be an early indicator of maybe some recovery, Gregory said \u2013 but there\u2019s still a lot of time until open water season. \u201cWe\u2019ll have to keep monitoring to know the extent of recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Alberta has also been dealing with recurring and severe drought conditions \u2013 but the province\u2019s water usage, particularly in the powerhouse agricultural region of southern Alberta, remains high.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alberta\u2019s water usage<\/p>\n

In 2022, Canadian farmers used approximately 2.2 billion cubic metres of water to irrigate their crops. Of that, 1.6 billion cubic metres was used in Alberta.<\/p>\n

Oil sands mining is also a significant water user.<\/p>\n

According to the Alberta Energy Regulator, in 2024, nearly 1.2 billion cubic metres of water was used to produce almost 698 million barrels of oil from oil sands mining. Seventy-eight percent of that was recycled water \u2013 water a mine has already used, treated and then uses again \u2013 while 22 percent came from sources like the Athabasca River and groundwater.<\/p>\n

However, Indigenous-led organization Keepers of the Water and others believe the real numbers are higher than those companies are reporting.<\/p>\n

Independent consultant Ian Peace, who produced a 2019 thesis on oil sand tailings water in the Athabasca River, estimates the actual amount is 10-18 units<\/a> of water to produce one unit of bitumen. \u201cThe low end, 10, represents what I think are best-case scenarios,\u201d Peace said by email.<\/p>\n

According to the Alberta Energy Regulator, water usage has increased steadily from 2013 to 2024<\/a>, partly driven by new oil sands projects and expansions. <\/p>\n

Companies are also using a higher proportion of water per barrel of oil<\/a> \u2013 which would suggest they\u2019re becoming less efficient with their water use. <\/p>\n

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Additionally, Alberta\u2019s government has proposed a new pipeline to the northwest coast of British Columbia, recently declared a project of national interest by the federal government.<\/p>\n

Jesse Cardinal, executive director of Keepers of the Water, says all of this is unsustainable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s billions of litres a year being extracted from the Athabasca River and the watersheds. The majority of it is not getting returned back into the water cycle,\u201d she told Cabin Radio.<\/p>\n

Pamela Narv\u00e1ez-Torres, a conservation specialist at the Alberta Wilderness Association, says the organization has a lot of concerns around water usage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWater is not doing great,\u201d Narv\u00e1ez-Torres said. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen some changes in water levels, and governments trying to compensate [and] balance the ecosystem with what industry needs, always giving more weight on that balance to industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oil sands companies Suncor, Imperial Oil and Canadian Natural Resources, all of whom operate oil sands mining operations in northern Alberta, were approached for this article. They did not respond to our request for comment on this issue,\u00a0 though Imperial Oil did respond on the topic of water quality, which we\u2019ll examine in our next article.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Changes coming to Alberta\u2019s Water Act<\/p>\n

Bill 7: Water Amendment Act passed its third reading at the Legislative Assembly of Alberta on December 2. The bill can now come into force on proclamation; exactly when that happens is up to the government.<\/p>\n

Most notably for the NWT, the bill<\/a> makes it easier to carry out what Alberta calls \u201clower-risk\u201d transfers of water between water basins. It also merges the Peace-Slave River basin and Athabasca River basin, turning the two ecologically distinct basins into one management entity.<\/p>\n

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\"SandhillSandhill cranes on the Salt Plains in Wood Buffalo National Park in August 2021. The Athabasca River flows into the park. Sarah Pruys\/Cabin Radio<\/p>\n

The bill has received sharp criticism from environmental advocates and Indigenous communities.<\/p>\n

In December, the Tallcree Tribal Government, Dene Tha\u2019 First Nation and Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation announced a legal challenge<\/a> against Bill 7, asserting that \u201cthe Province is using the Water Amendment Act to avoid its obligation to respect our treaty entitlement to safe and reliable water.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gerry Cheezie, a former Salt River First Nation chief presenting to the Dene National Assembly last week, said \u201cmerging river basins is ecologically reckless, scientifically unproven and a direct violation of treaty rights to safe and reliable water.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really live in a petrol state where the Alberta government is fully accommodating the big-scale industries,\u201d Cardinal said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir solution is, \u2018Well, the south is running out of water. We\u2019ll just take water from the north.\u2019 It\u2019s really scary, because we\u2019re already seeing the results of decades of mismanagement of water.\u201d<\/p>\n

What are NWT and Alberta governments doing?<\/p>\n

In 2024, a report<\/a> from Alberta\u2019s auditor general found the province was failing to effectively manage its surface water. <\/p>\n

Some of the key findings included, in the audit\u2019s words, that Alberta\u2019s Ministry of Environment and Protected Areas:<\/p>\n

has no water conservation objectives in most basins;<\/p>\n

does not know if existing water conservation objectives are working; and <\/p>\n

lacks robust processes to monitor water pressures, assess risks, and decide when water conservation objectives are needed.<\/p>\n

Meghan Beveridge, director of water monitoring and stewardship at the NWT\u2019s Department of Environment and Climate Change, said the territorial government did have \u201csome concerns\u201d about the amendments to Alberta\u2019s Water Act. <\/p>\n

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Those include concerns about whether increasing the amount of water use in Alberta would mean less water getting to the NWT, she said.<\/p>\n

Beveridge said senior officials have had regular meetings with Alberta and communication has been good. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be tracking the total amount of inter-basin transfers \u2013 if there are more applicants or transfers as a result of these changes, for example,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The NWT has also asked for Alberta to consider a cumulative cap on how much water could be used in inter-basin transfers. \u201cWe\u2019ll continue to communicate with Alberta about concerns,\u201d said Beveridge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alberta\u2019s Ministry of Environment and Protected Areas did not respond to requests for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alberta has a new environment minister, Grant Hunter, who replaced Rebecca Schulz after she resigned on January 2. Hunter\u2019s office also did not respond to requests for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Suncor\u2019s Fort Hills oil sands mine. Jason Woodhead\/Flickr<\/a><\/p>\n

Cardinal said First Nations are being excluded from decisions and agreements about water governance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat needs to change,\u201d she said. \u201cIt can\u2019t just be the colonial Northwest Territories government speaking on behalf of all of the communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In his presentation at the Dene National Assembly, Cheezie said pressure on the Peace-Slave watershed is accelerating a collective response from the Dene Nation and Treaty 8 Alberta, who expect to sign a memorandum of understanding on water this year to signal their unity, cooperation and shared resolve.<\/p>\n

A water treaty is also being developed, Cheezie said, to bring together Indigenous governments across Canada to defend water under treaties 1 to 11. \u201cWater does not recognize provincial boundaries,\u201d he said. \u201cNeither should our resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dana Fergusson is the mayor of Fort Smith, a community just north of the NWT-Alberta border that sits on the Slave River. She worries that inter-basin water transfers might further deplete the river\u2019s water levels.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t have water, you don\u2019t have a community,\u201d Fergusson said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHow can we give people drinking water if we don\u2019t have access to be able to fill our reservoirs?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fergusson said the Thebacha Leadership Committee \u2013 herself, the chiefs of the Salt River First Nation and Smith\u2019s Landing First Nation, the president of the Fort Smith M\u00e9tis Council and the Thebacha MLA \u2013 are working to raise awareness of this at the territorial, provincial and federal levels.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re worried,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just hope that our counterparts in the Alberta government and further up the chain in the federal office are hearing what we have to say, and really considering \u2026 the effects that it has outside of their borders.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Nuclear project proposed<\/p>\n

A company named Energy Alberta is in the early stages of developing a proposal for a nuclear power project<\/a> on the Peace River.<\/p>\n

A representative from the company said by email that the potential impact of the project on water flows will be evaluated over the next couple of years, through both the federal impact assessment process and a provincial water licence application.<\/p>\n

The power station would use water from Peace River for cooling and other operations. <\/p>\n

At full capacity, it would use \u201capproximately 0.2 percent of the river\u2019s medium annual flow to make up for water that evaporates as part of the power generation cooling system,\u201d the company says.<\/p>\n

Gregory, the NWT hydrologist, said the expected impact of a 0.2-percent draw on water levels would be \u201cpretty minimal.\u201d<\/p>\n

What role does climate play?<\/p>\n

Biology professor Roland Hall has studied the Peace-Athabasca freshwater delta for 25 years, looking at issues around water quantity, oil sands mining and climate change in collaboration with the Cold Regions Research Centre.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He points to a strong correspondence between drier or wetter episodes in the delta and global El Ni\u00f1o and La Ni\u00f1a<\/a> variations.<\/p>\n

\"\"This graphic appears in a policy brief<\/a> produced by Roland Hall and others this month. E\/I ratio means evaporation-to-inflow. The authors argue this data shows the \u201cstrong influence of climate on freshwater availability\u201d in the Peace-Athabasca Delta.<\/p>\n

Typically, he said, withdrawals of water from industry form a very small proportion of the total flow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s only when the river naturally goes low that \u2026 the amount of water being taken up by the industry becomes a concern, in terms of having a big impact on water levels,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n

High-elevation snowpack and glacier runoff from the Rocky Mountains has also been reduced by climate change, he continued. That reduces the \u201calpine tap\u201d that sends water into the Athabasca River and Peace River.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, water usage has been rising, and Hall said we\u2019re reaching a critical point of concern around how much water we can use.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When will we hit that point? We may already be there, Hall said.<\/p>\n

Recent years have seen ice roads disrupted in the winter and water levels too low for barges in the summer. Both can leave communities without essential supplies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe that\u2019s a sign that we\u2019re already experiencing that crossroads,\u201d said Hall.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it\u2019s going to just bring bigger and tougher challenges to deal with as we move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

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