Reading Time: 5 minutes Alberta river and reservoir levels remain lower than normal and water availability continues to worry irrigators. Will there be enough water to go around? What happens if there isn’t? Answers can be found in the province’s current Water Act, passed in 1999, which contains the same “first in time, first in right” (FITFIR) system that […] Read more
Don’t fear FITFIR, says Alberta water expert
Rights holders likely to negotiate in times of water shortage
Viking turns on the taps of new water initiative
Farmers around Viking to enjoy raw filtered watering system
Reading Time: 3 minutes The town of Viking in central Alberta is ready if Mother Nature turns off the tap again in 2024. This time, if drought rears its ugly head, local farmers can use a new raw water pumping station built within the town’s existing infrastructure. Viking celebrated its new layer of drought protection during a grand opening […] Read more
Farmers, oil drillers in parched Alberta brace for water shortage
Drought could cause double-digit declines in Alberta's wheat yields, data suggests
Drought in Alberta is stretching into its fourth year and farmers and oil companies are planning for water restrictions that threaten production of wheat, beef and crude.
Alberta government asks people with water licence to move their licences online
Moving licences online will simplify things and make sure the government can track water availability
Reading Time: 2 minutes To make things simpler and faster, the government of Alberta is asking thousands of water licence users to move their licences online. The province has a digital system that lets users report on water use and manage their licence through a confidential online tool. A typical water licence allows the holder to divert water and […] Read more
NASA to conduct first global water survey from space
Data would bolster weather and climate forecasts
Los Angeles | Reuters — A NASA-led international satellite mission was set for blastoff from southern California early on Thursday on a major Earth science project to conduct a comprehensive survey of the world’s oceans, lakes and rivers for the first time. Dubbed SWOT, short for Surface Water and Ocean Topography, the advanced radar satellite […] Read more
Schoepp: Fresh water a gift we can’t afford to take for granted
What falls from the sky gets most of our attention but the entire water supply should be our concern
Reading Time: 3 minutes Drop by precious drop we are celebrating rain in the dry areas — and cursing it on the flood plains. The weather patterns have been rather unpredictable with monumental hail in Mexico City to extreme heat in Europe and Saharan winds that are dropping sand in the most remote of locations. Putting seed in the […] Read more
Wastewater regulation eased for Nova Scotia on-farm processing
Nova Scotia has introduced regulatory changes that allow on-farm processing operations to better manage wastewater on their smaller scale. The changes, which took effect May 11, come at the request of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture (NSFA) — which has said that owners of small farm-level processing facilities shouldn’t be treated the same as […] Read more
Water quality can make a difference on herbicide efficacy
Glyphosate in particular is prone to being tied up by hard water, which may be more common this year
Reading Time: 4 minutes Water quality can change after a drought — and that can affect the efficacy of your herbicides. “It’s well known that there are certain things in water — chemicals, salts, metal cations — that can antagonize the spray,” said well-known spray expert Tom Wolf. “With much lower water levels, it’s conceivable that those antagonists will […] Read more
Iqaluit confirms ‘exceedingly high levels’ of fuel in water supply
Water not safe for cooking or drinking, city says
Reuters –– The Canadian city of Iqaluit said lab results confirmed that fuel had entered its water supply, officials announced Friday. Analysis of samples from one of the city’s water tanks found “exceedingly high levels of various fuel components,” Amy Elgersma, Iqaluit’s chief administrative officer, said, adding it was likely diesel or kerosene. Residents in […] Read more
India unveils new rice variety to reduce water use, labour
New Delhi | Reuters — India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched an array of new high-yielding crop varieties, including herbicide-tolerant rice that can be directly sown into the soil, cutting expenditure on water and farm workers. In India, the world’s biggest rice exporter, the conventional method of rice cultivation requires farmers to sow […] Read more
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