Quenching Instream Thirst : A Role for Water Trusts in the Prairie Provinces

The southern regions of the prairie provinces, Alberta, in particular, are water short. Some areas are over-allocated meaning that there is not enough water to satisfy all water rights. Increasing population and drier climate put greater stress on water supplies. With so much attention paid to what we need to take out of watercourses we sometimes lose sight of what we need to keep in them to restore and maintain aquatic and riparian ecological integrity, so vital to the existence of watercourses themselves. Water trusts play an important role in the western United States in helping to restore, maintain, and enhance the instream needs of aquatic and riparian systems. They work with water right holders and governments so that water that would otherwise be allocated out of stream is left in stream to replenish the system itself. This article considers whether there is a viable role for water trusts in the prairie provinces, focusing on Alberta. It examines existing water rights legal frameworks and considers to what extent they would support water trusts. The article concludes that there is a viable and even vital role for water trusts in the Canadian prairies