“Groundwater is a covenant with future generations. It is a necessary backup supply for emerging needs and to provide flexibility in responding to hydrological variability and to climate change. This generation could provide an important legacy to descendents by attending to emerging groundwater governance issues now.”

 - Ingram et al. 2007, “the Rosenberg Report”

Groundwater resources will play a critical role in defining the future economic and environmental wellbeing of the North Saskatchewan River basin. However, little detail is known of how much usable groundwater is stored in the basin, or of its dynamics of recharge and discharge, or ambient quality. The western basins are believed to be important areas of regional groundwater recharge and baseflow to the North Saskatchewan River, but regional quantities are unknown, as are specific sensitivities to forestry practices, land-use change, or climate change. Water in the central basins is under increasing demand due to agricultural, energy, industrial, and municipal development. Again, we have little explicit understanding of how the groundwater systems in the basins are responding cumulatively to groundwater extraction and human land use. In the eastern basins, water is generally less available and the reservoir of usable groundwater becomes thinner. At the same time, groundwater to the east is proportionately more important for agricultural, ecosystem, and municipal purposes. To date, groundwater information across the North Saskatchewan River basin has not been effectively synthesized or interpreted in terms of quantity or quality. Nevertheless, understanding of groundwater resources is essential for the health of the basin and requires a strong coordinated effort by this generation now. Key areas of further study are the dynamics of the regional groundwater flow system in the headwaters of the basin and their sensitivities to land use and climate change. In addition, groundwater management frameworks should be developed for sub-basins or local areas having more dense population and competing land use, to establish a consistent and systematic approach to characterizing, monitoring, and protecting groundwater resources.

• Final Report (33 mb pdf)
• Submitted by Worley Parsons Resources and Energy to the North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance, May 2009