REBECCA BAYER
  • Public Art
    • MERGE
    • Maple Ridge Community Mosaic
    • Calder Community Mosaic
    • The Whole is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts
    • GIANT
    • Whereness
    • Motif One of Many
    • City Fabric
    • Give And Take
  • Paintings
  • About

Alberta’s Most Valuable Resource

5/15/2015

 
Picture
Albertan Sky
The land now known as Alberta, has been occupied by people for around 8,000 years. Until less than 150 years ago only the sky and the North Saskatchewan River dominated the views across the sweeping prairie vistas where the City of Edmonton now stands. The success of its continued occupation of these lands will be closely related to the stability and quality of the water supply.
Picture
Canadian Watersheds
The City of Edmonton straddles the North Saskatchewan River which has its headwaters in the Columbia Icefield, high in the Canadian Rockies. The river flows east across Alberta and Saskatchewan to Lake Winnipeg before eventually draining through the Nelson River into Hudson Bay.
Picture
Water runs through Canada’s rivers like blood through the country’s veins. Since time immemorial, people who have inhabited the Prairies have relied on the rivers to sustain life. The North Saskatchewan River is part of one of Canada’s most historic waterways and has anchored the urban and economic development of much of Canada’s western prairies.
Picture
Alberta Oil Sands
Alberta’s economy is one of the strongest in the world and to a significant extent its industries rely on an abundant supply of water. While the Saskatchewan River Basin was once predominately covered with wetlands and grasslands, population increases and industrial land use have placed heavy pressure on the water supply and rendered Alberta the most vulnerable of the Prairie Provinces to water shortages.
Picture
Red Deer River and South Saskatchewan River. Near Empress, AB.
This situation is compounded by indications that the mountain supplies of water are diminishing. Most large glaciers in the headwaters of the Saskatchewan, Bow and Athabasca rivers have shrunk by ~25% in the last century. Environment Canada has stated that the sustainability of freshwater supplies is a growing concern worldwide and it lists the threat to water availability in Alberta as moderate to high.

Comments are closed.

    Archives

    June 2022
    May 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    July 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015

    Categories

    All
    Infrastructure
    Inspiration
    Make
    News
    Place
    Project
    Proposal
    Research
    Space
    Workshop

    Subscribe to Newsletter
  • Public Art
    • MERGE
    • Maple Ridge Community Mosaic
    • Calder Community Mosaic
    • The Whole is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts
    • GIANT
    • Whereness
    • Motif One of Many
    • City Fabric
    • Give And Take
  • Paintings
  • About