About this work

At the November 2020 board meeting, the Alberta Water Council (AWC) approved forming a project team to explore potential future challenges and opportunities facing Alberta’s water management system.

The purpose of the Alberta Water Futures Project is to identify the top future risks that may affect Alberta’s water management system and assess the readiness of the system to respond to those emerging challenges and potential opportunities. The project will focus on water strategy and policy aspects of the water management system, and accompanying legislative, regulatory, governance, data, and regional/watershed delivery tools.

The Water Futures project had three objectives:

  • Current state assessment: Conduct a strategic-level assessment of strengths and shortcomings of the current water management system
  • Identify top risks: Describe a select few top social, environmental, and economic risks to Alberta’s water management future in the short and long term (10-year horizon) that may prevent the water management system from responding appropriately
  • Cross-sector perspectives: Characterize cross-sector perspectives on the readiness of the water management system to adapt or respond to the identified top risks

The project’s terms of reference can be found here. For more information, please contact Anuja Hoddinott at [email protected] 

Final Report

The AWC wrapped up this important work in June 2021. The final report was released to the public shortly after and intends to create awareness about future risks and opportunities to our water management system and spark conversation among sectors on potential next steps. The report examines the strengths and shortcomings of the current water management system, describes the top risks in the short and longer term (10-year horizon) that may prevent the system from responding appropriately, and characterizes cross-sector perspectives on the readiness of the water management system to adapt or respond these risks. To see the final report, go here.