Water Availability and Allocation

December 2024

On this page, we discuss the following:

Water Availability 

Over 143 billion cubic metres (m3) of nonsaline water is available yearly in Alberta. This includes water from lakes and rivers, overland flow (runoff), and relatively shallow groundwater. By understanding how much water is available and where, the Government of Alberta can ensure sufficient water to sustain the environment and meet its interprovincial and international apportionment agreements while allocating (or licensing) water for human consumption, recreation, and continued economic growth in Alberta.

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Surface Water Availability

Surface water is water on the land, such as in rivers, lakes, and wetlands. Water availability information is based on the median annual runoff data from Agriculture Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Annual Unit Runoff in Canada – 2013. Although this data series is dated 2013, it is current. 

The runoff volume reflects the natural state of watersheds and rivers and does not account for flow regulation structures such as dams.

Local surface water availability reflects the runoff from within a particular watershed only; it excludes runoff as streamflow from upstream watersheds. However, contributions from upstream watersheds are important when determining the total surface water available in a watershed and are included in the cumulative surface water availability data.

Groundwater Availability

Groundwater availability Groundwater availability is based on the average volume of water from rainfall and snowmelt that enters (recharges) the groundwater system in the sediments above bedrock and the bedrock within 150 m of the surface. After moving through the groundwater system, much of this water eventually replenishes surface water bodies.

Groundwater availability in the deeper part of the groundwater system has not yet been assessed. This deeper groundwater is generally well over 1000 years old and not recharged by local precipitation events.

Groundwater availability is assumed to be equivalent to regional groundwater recharge. The following open file reports (OFRs) describe how regional groundwater recharge was determined in four areas of the province. The approach varied with the different areas due to data availability and hydrogeological characteristics. Groundwater availability in this report is equivalent to

Where overlap occurred between the central and southern Alberta study areas, the OFR 2018-09 results were used.

Water Allocation in Alberta

Water allocations are the maximum nonsaline water volumes a licence holder may divert under an active Water Act licence. Allocations include water volumes from term and temporary diversion licences. What the allocations are used for depends on the type of development in that geographic area. For example, agricultural operations occur mainly in southern and central Alberta, and oil sands development mainly in the northeast. Enhanced oil recovery is active across much of Alberta. 

When energy companies apply to use nonsaline water for a term licence, they must state the maximum volume of water needed annually to sustain their project throughout its life cycle. Companies determine the maximum annual volume based on the year with the highest water demand during the project’s life cycle, including a contingency buffer. Consequently, the actual water use will be less than the allocated maximum annual volume during years of low water demand.

Of the total amount of nonsaline water available, about 7% (9.6 billion m3) was allocated for use in 2023 (see the following figure). Of all nonsaline water licensed in 2023, about 13% (1.22 billion m3) was allocated to develop energy resources. The remainder of the allocated water was to other users in the province, such as agriculture, forestry, and municipalities.

In 2023, the energy industry used 22% (270 million m3) of its water allocation, which was 0.19% of the nonsaline water available in Alberta. The energy industry allocation represents less than 1% of the calculated nonsaline water available in Alberta.

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The primary source of nonsaline water allocated in Alberta is surface water, accounting for over 96% of all water allocations. The remaining 4% comes from groundwater. The energy industry is allocated 11% of the licensed surface water and 49% of the licensed groundwater in Alberta (see the following figure).

Water Performance

Oil sands mining accounts for 69% of the energy industry’s total water allocation. Oil sands mining requires a large nonsaline water allocation because it involves water-intensive activities such as mine pit dewatering, solids and bitumen separation, hydraulic transportation of waste solids, and bitumen upgrading.

The allocations for the other extraction technologies are 11% hydraulic fracturing, 8% enhanced oil recovery, and 4% in situ operations. The remaining 8% of the water allocation is for other energy development purposes, such as coal mining/processing, pipeline integrity testing, and hydrocarbon processing.

Surface Water Availability and Allocations

Surface water allocations represent the maximum volume of surface water licensed for diversion from surface runoff, rivers, lakes, and wetlands. These allocations are compared with availability as either the proportion of local or cumulative surface water allocated to local or cumulative surface water availability. Comparing surface water allocation with availability helps identify potential water-short (constrained) areas.

The following map shows the proportion of surface water allocated to the energy industry in Alberta as a percentage of the availability. The data are shown at a watershed scale known as a hydrologic unit code (HUC), which divides an area into smaller watershed units. The data in this report are shown at the HUC 8 level.

Groundwater Availability and Allocations

Groundwater allocations represent the maximum volume of groundwater licensed for diversion. Groundwater allocations are split into two groups because availability is only determined for the shallow part of the groundwater system.

  • The first group is allocations from water wells in sediments above bedrock and wells in the bedrock within 150 m of the ground surface (shallow groundwater). These allocations are compared with availability.
  • The second group is allocations from water wells in bedrock at depths of more than 150 m (deep groundwater). These allocations are not compared with groundwater availability because deep groundwater availability values are unavailable.

The following maps show groundwater availability and allocations to the energy industry in Alberta. Comparing groundwater allocation to availability helps identify areas where a high proportion of the available groundwater is allocated and can be investigated further. For example, in northeast Alberta, the watersheds containing most of the oil sands mines show more groundwater allocation than availability. A closer review reveals this is because the groundwater level (or water table) must be lowered to dig and maintain the open pit mines. The water removed is considered a groundwater allocation and exceeds the volume of water entering the groundwater system.

While data on groundwater allocation is available across the entire province, availability information has not yet been determined for areas in northern Alberta. In watersheds where groundwater availability has not yet been determined, the availability will show as ”not yet mapped.’ Updates to groundwater availability will be included as they become available from the Alberta Geological Survey.

Find out how water is used in the energy industry in the Water Use section.