Alberta Environment sought to determine how much water is needed and used in the province. The resulting report provides estimates of water used in the province during 2005, summarized by sector and by river basin. The report found that because Alberta Environment issues water licences to a maximum allocation, actual water use is lower than what has been allocated. As of December 2005, 9,563,218 cubic decameters of water was allocated for various purposes. Of this allocation, 9,254,931 cubic decameters was for surface water and 308,287 cubic decameters was for groundwater. Based on available water use information for 2005, it is estimated that, overall, 34.5 per cent of water allocated was actually used in Alberta. The report also includes projections of future water use to 2025.

• Full document (37.3MB) - Note: This is a rather larger document in size so please be patient when downloading.

For slower connections, the report is available in smaller chapters. Even if you are just looking for information on one river basin, we also recommend that you download the Foreword/Executive Summary along with the Introduction, Methodology, and Alberta Summary.

• Cover page
• Foreword / Executive Summary / Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Methodology
• Milk River Basin
• Oldman River Basin
• Bow River Basin
• South Saskatchewan River Basin
• Red Deer River Basin
• Battle River Basin
• North Saskatchewan River Basin
• Beaver River Basin
• Athabasca River Basin
• Peace / Slave River Basin
• Hay River Basin
• Liard River Basin
• Alberta Summary
• Conclusions and Recommendations