Assessing Hydrologic and Policy Implications of Irrigation on the Canadian Prairies Under Climate Change ...

• Main Author: Vonderbank, Lucas
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Schulich School of Engineering 2023
• Subjects: climate change; irrigation; Saskatchewan River Basin; hydrologic modelling; Agriculture; Hydrology; Engineering; Engineering > Environmental; First Nations
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.11575/prism/40766; https://prism.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/115878

The Saskatchewan River Basin (SRB) covers a large portion of the Canadian Prairies. Agriculture represents a dominant land-use in the SRB, and since the early 1900s irrigation has evolved to become an important part of the sector, improving yields and enabling the production of high-value crops. With climate change projected to increase temperatures and alter precipitation patterns, uncertainty surrounding water security for irrigators and First Nations in the SRB is expected to increase. Given the impacts of climate change, the recent announcements from the Alberta and Saskatchewan Governments regarding irrigation expansion, and the risks faced by First Nations under changing streamflow conditions, a hydrologic analysis of the SRB that dynamically incorporates climate change and irrigation is required to assess future water security and the viability of current water governance (i.e., the Master Agreement on Apportionment). This study integrates Prairie-specific irrigation in the HYPE hydrologic model, and ...