Some of Alberta’s largest users of waters are taking action to develop and implement water conservation, efficiency and productivity plans as part of the province’s renewed Water for Life strategy.
The Alberta Water Council released a report on December 16, 2008 outlining 21 recommendations for water conservation, efficiency and productivity sector planning to guide seven Alberta sectors in setting and meeting water conservation, efficiency and productivity goals. The sectors include:
– Chemical and petrochemical
– Forestry
– Irrigation
– Mining
– Municipalities
– Oil and gas
– Power generation
All of the sectors are active members of the Alberta Water Council, and have committed to developing Water Conservation, Efficiency and Productivity (WCEP) plans by December 2010 through their various sector associations. The WCEP plans will take a sectoral approach to meeting specific conservation, efficiency and productivity targets, with implementation at the regional level, on a company by company, or community by community basis. All of the plans will be made available to the public, and accountability for implementation will come through an annual reporting process through the Alberta Water Council.
Two of the sectors-irrigation and municipalities-have already begun pilot projects under the WCEP initiative.
“All thirteen irrigation districts in the province have made substantial gains in water-use efficiencies over the past decade. We see our participation in the WCEP initiative as a way to continuously improve our efficiency and productivity,” said Ron McMullin, executive director of the Alberta Irrigation Projects Association.
A copy of the report-recommendations for Water Conservation, Efficiency and Productivity Sector Planning-is available at here.
