Environment.

• Date: 01 September 2019
• Author: Surtees, Jeff

Water Regulation in Alberta: 5 Things You Need to Know

Water plus Earth, Wind and Fire. No... it's not a day at the beach with a great band from Chicago. These are the names of the four classical elements, which in ancient times were thought to explain the nature of how the world worked. They are also the subjects of the next four LawNow Environmental Law columns--the regulation of water, land, air and fire under Alberta law. In each case, we are going to look at five things that I think are interesting and important to think about to get a feel for the area.

We will start this time with water.

1. Alberta water law isn't found in one place.

   Just like the Facebook relationship status of that one wild friend that everyone has, the law about the use of water is complicated. It's a mixture of common law (including riparian rights, drainage rights and nuisance) modified by written statutes, written regulations and policies put in place by the federal, provincial and municipal governments.

   The main provincial statute that deals with granting water licenses and how much water a licence holder can use (called an allocation) is Alberta's Water Act. Under that statute, the government can approve a water management plan for a river basin. So far there are approved plans in place for the South Saskatchewan River basin and the Battle River basin. Other important provincial statues containing provisions that could affect water in some way include:

   * the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act,

   * the Municipal...