Alberta has opened the door to a sweeping, long-term review of the province's water resources as officials scramble to square a geography that is relatively water-rich in the north with heavy demand in the south.
Province seeks 100-year view of water needs
The government posted a request for proposals this week asking consultants to assess water availability across the province and outline what Alberta must build, invest in and change now to safeguard supplies for future generations. Environment Minister Grant Hunter framed the effort as planning “100 years ahead” to ensure communities, farms and industry have reliable access to water.
"Water is the foundation of Alberta’s future," Hunter said in the ministry news release.
The document accompanying the request for proposals highlights a persistent geographic imbalance: much of the province’s renewable water resources are concentrated in northern Alberta, while several southern river basins — including the Bow, Oldman and South Saskatchewan — have been closed to new diversion licences for nearly two decades.
What the study will examine
The eventual contractor will be expected to review a wide range of options, from incremental conservation and water-management reforms to major infrastructure projects. The scope explicitly includes examining large interbasin transfer systems in other jurisdictions — notably the California aqueduct and China’s South–North Water Transfer project — to assess whether Alberta could replicate elements of those approaches.
- Inventory and long-term modelling of provincial water supply and demand.
- Evaluation of policy tools and water-management approaches to increase reliability.
- Analysis of large-scale transfer projects and major infrastructure options.
The government says the initiative will inform a new long-term water-management plan and trigger discussions between the provincial government and municipalities, agricultural producers and industry stakeholders about matching growth with dependable supplies.
Context and local implications
Alberta’s weather patterns have swung between wet and dry in recent years. While parts of the province, including Edmonton, experienced an unusually rainy summer this year, droughts hit several regions hard in 2021 and 2023. Those extremes have sharpened concerns about long-range resilience and how to allocate scarce water where demand and growth are concentrated.
For southern Alberta, where river basins have been closed to new licences, the study signals provincial recognition that current constraints could limit future residential and economic expansion unless new strategies or infrastructure are adopted.
| River basin | Status |
|---|---|
| Bow | Closed to new diversion licences |
| Oldman | Closed to new diversion licences |
| South Saskatchewan | Closed to new diversion licences |
Any consideration of transferring water over long distances — a technically and politically fraught option — would require not only massive capital investment but also navigation of interjurisdictional rules, since several basins cross into Saskatchewan or the United States.
Next steps and unanswered questions
The government has not published a timeline for selecting a consultant or for completing the study. The request for proposals notes the need to consider legal and cross-border constraints, but it does not commit Alberta to any particular project or form of transfer. That means stakeholders from urban planners to irrigation districts will be watching closely for the study’s recommendations and any subsequent funding or regulatory moves.
For municipalities and industry, the prospect of a comprehensive plan could provide clarity for long-range capital planning. For agricultural producers in the south, it may offer options to sustain irrigation-dependent operations. For taxpayers, it raises questions about who would ultimately pay for large infrastructure solutions, should they be recommended.
As Alberta positions itself for continued population and economic growth, this study represents a first step toward aligning long-term water policy with development goals. The provincial government says the findings will inform how it matches growth projections with reliable supplies and whether to pursue new management approaches or infrastructure investments.
Officials are expected to release further details about the procurement process in the coming weeks.
