Abstract
Politically Alberta has acknowledged the need to reallocate existing water allocations to meet future demand using voluntary water transfers. However, support for water markets among irrigators has been slow to emerge, laws do not allow private entities to buy and hold water to meet in-stream needs and among the general public there has been a high level of skepticism and opposition in response to early attempts to reallocate or share water held by irrigation district. This threatens the ability of Alberta’s Water for Life strategy to achieve its objective of meeting future supply in a sustainable manner. This chapter explores the reasons for this reluctance across southern Alberta using a series of surveys of irrigators and other residents conducted over a 9 year period and identifies issues of concern to stakeholder groups which need to be taken into account when marketing water sharing policies. We find distinct variation in policy preferences for water sharing across the region depending on the level of water scarcity, environmental degradation and economic dependence on water experienced across space. Irrigators’ willingness to share water with other sectors of the economy depends on context and purpose.
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Notes
- 1.
Wheel move sprinkler systems are also known as wheel-line, sideroll, or lateral-roll irrigation machines (see http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/engr_bie_wm_08.pdf).
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Acknowledgments
This chapter builds on several studies conducted by a number of students and funded by a number of agencies. We would like to acknowledge funding from Alberta Innovates: Energy and Environment Solutions, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canadian Water Network. We would also like to acknowledge the contribution by PhD student Lorraine Nicol, Masters Students Cameron Parrack, Martin Russenberger, Matthew Hall, Amber Zary and Katie Lafreniere, and postdoc Xinzheng Zhao.
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Bjornlund, H., Zuo, A., Wheeler, S., Xu, W. (2014). Exploring the Reluctance to Embrace Water Markets in Alberta, Canada. In: Easter, K., Huang, Q. (eds) Water Markets for the 21st Century. Global Issues in Water Policy, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9081-9_12
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