Water Allocation Update: August 21, 2024

The LNID Board of Directors reviewed the current water supply of the Oldman River Reservoir and district crop demands at their regular meeting on August 20, 2024, and has approved a motion to increase the annual allocation from 11” per irrigation acre to 13” per irrigation acre. The Board also approved a motion that there will be no more increases to the allocation this year. At a 13" allocation, LNID remains a party to the Water Sharing Memorandum of Understanding.

LNID continues to target an end of season storage between 42-45% in the Oldman River Reservoir. At the time of the meeting, the Oldman River Reservoir was at approximately 72% of full supply volume (about 354,500 dam3) and Keho Reservoir was around 89.5% of full supply volume. The average water use in the district is approximately 7.2” per acre. Inflows into the Oldman River Reservoir were at low levels similar to those seen at this time in 2023.

As we have passed peak seasonal water demand and approaching maturity for many crops, we have more certainty in estimating remaining water use and residual volume in our storage reservoirs. Several of the conservative assumptions used in the rational method have been updated and applied to projections of end-of-season water storage.

LNID is currently seeing a significant increase in the number of water allocation transfer requests as many irrigators manage the 11” per acre allocation limit to meet the needs of high water use crops. Additionally, we have found a wide variance in natural rainfall across the District that, combined with variable water holding capacity of heavy and light soils, means there is inherent disparity in supplemental water needs for farm operations, regardless of crop selection, and that water-stressed areas can change from year to year. As the water saved by responsible irrigation earlier in the season is being used now to sustain growing crops through an extended and continuing period of high temperatures this summer, the water allocation limits on a farm unit basis are being approached for several operations. These irrigators have committed to seeing these crops through to completion and the LNID Board recognizes that the incremental volume to realize crop yield and quality potential is available within the contingency allowed in the conservative assumptions. A modest increase in allocation is not projected to significantly impact district-wide uptake and so will have a relatively minor effect on end-of-season storage. Using the updated estimate of district-wide use with a 13” allocation in place at current or higher rates of irrigation and a conservative estimate of non-LNID releases, the end-of-season Oldman Reservoir storage remains at 42-45%. The Board is also aware that targeting a gross end-of-season storage volume is helpful for overall risk management but at a finer scale is limited in its effectiveness in offsetting natural variability in annual snowpack accumulation and spring runoff for 2025. Recognizing also that there is a reasonable projection of transition to a La Niña and NOAA is forecasting above normal moisture widening across the northwest for early 2025, it would be a shame to save water this summer that is then spilled next Spring. The reservoirs are there to capture runoff and sustain flows through dry periods that, together with application of good water management and conservation practices, will protect and sustain our aquatic ecosystems, our communities and our irrigated agriculture that drives the southern Alberta economy.

To view supporting information, click here.

Irrigators are reminded that penalties will apply to parcels that exceed the annual allocation. To avoid penalties, allocation transfers can be applied for by submitting your request via email to allocation@lnidweb.ca. We will reply with a request form for completion. There is no charge for administration of these transfers.