What are the Differences Between Basins?

When the proportional use of groundwater is reviewed by major basin some interesting patterns begin to emerge. The major differences between sectoral users in each basin is shown in the charts (right).

When these differences are reviewed one can see that the largest use of groundwater to support Agricultural (red) development occurs in the North Saskatchewan, Red Deer and Oldman Basins.

Meanwhile, the largest users of groundwater to support Petroluem (purple) development are situated in the Hay, Peace, Athabasca and Beaver River Basins.

With respect to the Municipal (dark blue) sector, the basins with the largest proportional groundwater use compared to other competing activities include the Milk, Oldman and Peace/Slave Basins.

With respect to the Other (orange) use category, which includes habitat enhancement and water management initiaitves, the Bow and Oldman Basins indicate a considerable proportion of groundwater being used to support these activities, at 41% and 20% respectively.

Regardless of where groundwater is being used in our province, it is evident that it serves many purposes to ensure a healthy economy, environment and population.

Section 3: Use and Recharge

Module 1: How is our groundwater allocated and used?
Module 2: What are the differences between basins?
Module 3: How much water recharges our province?
Module 4: What are the anticipated trends in use?