A summary of issues from the Headwaters sub-region facilitated discussion

Morning Session

The discussion began with local implications of vulnerabilities identified in the State of the Saskatchewan River Basin Report. Participants were from the counties of Brazeau, Clearwater, Leduc and Parkland. [send feedback]

Landscape Modification:

• Brazeau - over half of our municipality is under the control of the Government of Alberta (GoA), so there is split jurisdiction between regulations under the Municipal Government Act (MGA) and other GoA ministries. Alberta Environment has the lead jurisdiction, but provides us with little support. For example, our subdivision processes have implemented a stormwater retention policy, but AENV has no such policy.
• Cut blocks increase run-off and erosion. Forestry companies do put in water course barriers, but that does not do much. The creeks do not run clear anymore.
• We do not have a lot of tools to prevent land clearing. The county has little control over private land. For example, land is purchased as farmland, and then owners chop down trees, fill in wetlands and apply for a re-development permit.
• The biodiversity plant in Drayton Valley is making things worse. Before, only a third of every tree was used, and the rest was chipped and shredded. Now all the fibre is being used. It will be removed from forest floor and turned into ethanol. On the one hand we put the waste wood to mulch, and on the other we put it into methane development
• Parkland: Cormie Ranch was drained of wetlands. We do not understand re-charge. We don't know what was there.

• Supply is not seen as an issue yet. Towns pull water from the river and rural residents use groundwater. There are some concerns with water supply in some towns. The Water Act requires a water study if there are more than 6 lots/parcels - but these wells add up. AENV does not back us up when we try to put the breaks on digging more wells. Mapping needs to be done.
• Perception in the Headwaters is that the Headwaters are vulnerable. 75% of water in the river arrives in the river prior to Stony Plain. So when Edmonton wants more water, they ask for more water to be released from Brazeau dam. So we have to pay for downstream users.

• IFN is used against the municipality - we can't develop due to IFN.
• AENV asked us for impacts of taking gravel out of the river's streambed. They are asking way too much. What a municipality needs for stream bed maintenance is way less than what the IFN is said to be. It's a constraint for municipalities.
• Agricultural producers (cow/calf operations) - when surface water supplies dried up, they could haul water or do dugout pumping, but they couldn't access water from recreational lakes. Farmers living beyond two miles from the river (pipe length), couldn't get water for their herds.

• There are declining recreational lake levels.
• Information needs: Municipality's need to make a list of what info is useful; what they have; what they do not have - perhaps NSWA can help them find the info they need.
• Lack of information: we don't know how our decisions impact other things. We don't have enough info to make good decisions.

• GoA says we may need more storage - more info is required here! if and when the next high water event/year occurs, maybe we need to revisit the issue of creating new dams or additional storage.
• Brazeau dam - we've added a lake, now we have ospreys. A whole new natural culture has been built up around a water body, hydro power and clean energy. We need more info on the positive/negative effects of this.

• Brazeau: Disposal of effluent from sewage lagoons, using sewage lagoons as primary treatment. Where do we dump it?...into a watercourse.

Afternoon Session

• Lack of information and access to information about:
• water bodies
• groundwater
• water for livestock (non-potable water)
• drainage of wetlands
• Surface run off from cut-blocks.

• Nobody here from SRD - Why????
• Industry: Coal-bed methane; Sin-gas; EPCOR; Capital Power
• Stewardship groups: Pigeon Lake WSG; Wizard Lake WSG
• Developers/real estate agents
• Northern Alberta Potatoe Producers; Ag Service Boards; Ag Environ - Janice Detrichs
• U of A Ag School ; Lakeland College
• First Nations - to provide information
• Engineers; safety code experts
• Public Works; Parks and Recreation
• County Communications (for newsletters)

• Clean Air Strategic Alliance (CASA) and the airshed zones - West Central; Parkland; Fort Air; Capital (Edmonton); Wood Buffalo.
• Universities doing research.