Subscribe to our Newsletter

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Water Transfers

Ms Blakeman: Thanks very much, Mr. Speaker. If there’s one thing we should’ve learned from the Balzac horse-racing track fiasco, it is this: the current system for managing water in the South Saskatchewan River basin is broken. Piping water from a municipality in one subbasin to service a horse racing track and a mall in another subbasin is not sound water management. My questions are to the Minister of Environment. Will government policy be established to expand a water market in the South Saskatchewan River basin? In other words, is the government’s policy direction going to be to allow irrigation districts to sell water to whomever they choose?

Mr. Renner: Mr. Speaker, let’s be clear. Water is not the property of any individual or company to sell. The water in this province is owned by the Crown. We do allocate water through various forms of water allocation mechanisms, and there are water rights that are traded. The member knows perfectly well that there already is an opportunity for a limited amount of trading to take place. So the answer to her question is no, water won’t be sold, and yes, water rights are being sold.

The Speaker: The hon. member.

Ms Blakeman: Thank you. Back to the same minister. Well, contrary to the commitments that were made in water for life, the government has only committed to consultations with the Water Council. Before committing Alberta in any new system of water allocation, will the minister conduct full public consultations with Albertans, not just the Water Council?

Mr. Renner: Mr. Speaker, I made a very public presentation last week – and it was covered quite broadly by the media – at which I indicated that we are entering a process now to explore opportunities for dealing with water allocation. The process is going through the Water Council and through a number of other opportunities to seek advice which will then culminate in the development of an overall policy which we will then broadly circulate and invite public comment on later on this fall.

The Speaker: The hon. member.

Ms Blakeman: Thank you. Back to the same minister: in areas where water is scarce and to help priorize water allocations, will the government consider setting up regional public utilities commissions integrated with regional planning boards under the land-use strategy?

Mr. Renner: Mr. Speaker, the issue that we have here in Alberta is not unique in the world. There are a number of other jurisdictions throughout the world that have already dealt, some more successfully than others, with some of the challenges that we face here in Alberta. The short answer to the member’s question is that we’ll consider everything. We’re looking at anything and everything. At the end of the day we want to have a solution that will serve Albertans the best.