Students and professionals converged in Kananaskis Country last week to participate in an intensive course on the physical principles of hydrology – the first of its kind in four decades.
Hydrology is the scientific study of the properties, distribution and circulation of water on earth – on the surface, below ground and in the atmosphere.
Taking place at the University of Calgary’s Biogeoscience Institute Barrier Lake Station, the course was hosted by the University of Saskatchewan’s Centre for Hydrology in partnership with the Canadian Society for Hydrological Sciences.
Running March 2-11, the for-credit course drew 40 grad students from the universities of Lethbridge, Regina, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and B.C.’s Simon Fraser, as well as professionals working as environmental assessment specialists, design engineers, environmental technicians, hydrometric technicians, water resource managers, streamflow forecasters and hydrogeologists with employers including Ducks Unlimited, Alberta Environment, Environment Canada and Syncrude.
The jam-packed agenda included full-day classroom sessions covering topics such as the fundamentals and physical principles of hydrology, precipitation and snow hydrology, the hydrology of glaciers, wetlands and groundwater, interception and evapotranspiration, infiltration and soil water, river networks, river hydraulics and ice.

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Canada has vast reserves of water – yet only 7% of the world’s renewable supply. Water is of critical economic and strategic importance—a resource, a commodity and an essential element in health, agriculture, energy, urban, commercial and industrial development. What is happening to our water resources? What have we learned about changing water conditions across Canada over the last few years—and what questions remain? The Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences and Environment Canada invite you to find out.
Since 2000, the Foundation has invested $14.4 million in water related research. The workshop will look at what has emerged from this work and its relevance to safety, security, ecosystems, health and economic development. The Symposium will provide a forum on water security for policy and decision makers, in cooperation with researchers.

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from Revelstoke Times Review
A distinguished panel of glacier scientists was in Golden on Feb. 1 week to present information about the state of water reserves in the Columbia Basin, and to discuss the impacts of shrinking water supply.
Kindy Gosal, Director of Water and Environment for Columbia Basin Trust, said the evening was intended to be an information session for the citizens of the area about glacial recession.
“I think it’s important information to fill in the knowledge gap that people have in this basin about what’s going to happen for the future of water supply in the face of climate change and the recession of our glaciers,” said Gosal.
“The reason we need this information is because those glaciers are our banks and reserves of water. And really, we don’t have a good idea what’s happened to those bank accounts of water and what the future impacts might be as those bank accounts become depleted, or how fast we’re depleting their funds.”
Speaking at the event, Brian Menounos, from University of Northern British Columbia, commented on the potential political ramifications of this research. Part of this involves striking a balance between the electricity and water needs of the people in the Columbia Basin, southern British Columbia, and exports to the United States.
“One of the reasons we are studying these glaciers – and this is also why BC Hydro finds this interesting – people are going to consider the renegotiation of the Columbia Basin Treaty. When it was actually first set, at the turn of the last century, people assumed the glaciers were at their extent, that climate was more or less stable. We know that is not the case now. So we have to have a better understanding of how those glaciers have changed and how surface flows have changed.”
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courtesy The Western Producer

What are we going to do when our new well runs dry? Dig a deeper one. What are we going to do when that one runs dry? Drill deeper again and ask why the wells keep running dry.
The prairie moisture cycle has been disrupted. Nobody disputes that point. But how badly is it disrupted and can it be fixed? Nobody knows, says John Pomeroy, director at the Centre for Hydrology at the University of Saskatchewan. Prairie people know they have to go progressively deeper with their wells and as they do, the water is often lower quality than their previous well. “Most shallow surface aquifers once had very good quality water, but very little storage capacity,” said Pomeroy. Small storage limits the ability to recharge and available water is used quickly.
“These shallow aquifers are connected to the surface so they experience the same rain and drought cycles we experience. They get their water from the moisture cycle, which goes up and down, wet and dry.”
As the Prairies required more water for irrigation, livestock and municipal purposes, shallow wells ran dry and were abandoned in favour of deeper wells.
“There’s much more water underground than on the surface or in the shallow aquifers. Nobody knows how much,” Pomeroy said. “But the flow rate in the deep aquifers is extremely slow and it’s mostly very poor quality. There are a few areas with high quality deep water, such as the Assiniboine Delta Aquifer, but most deep water isn’t suitable for agriculture or people. A lot of that water was laid down in pre-glacial times, so it’s old. The older it is, the more dissolved solids it has. It can’t be used for anything.”
Pomeroy said it’s easy to see how shallow wells and their high quality water were pumped dry. The water was needed. But other land management factors affect the situation.
Recharging ground water on the Prairies is different from other places, Pomeroy said. Because these shallow aquifers are small, they recharge quickly from potholes and sloughs. Conversely, they also respond quick- ly to drought or having their recharge sources cut off. “Recharge absolutely depends on sloughs and potholes. You need water standing for a period of time to force it through that thick till layer. Sloughs are mainly filled by snow- melt runoff. Snow is the primary source of water for our prairie water tables. Summer rainfall that runs into the sloughs generally evaporates before it has a chance to recharge the water table.”
Pomeroy said a cool rainy summer will recharge some of the water tables but with 70 percent of prairie sloughs and potholes now drained, every remaining acre of surface water is vital. “Every time we drain another pot- hole, we lose one more source of snowmelt water for our shallow aquifers and recharge for those shal- lower wells. There’s another problem with the remaining sloughs. We’re not putting as much snowmelt runoff into those sloughs as we did 20 years ago.”
Farmers and researchers agree that water is the limiting factor on all types of agricultural production on the Prairies. With a limited amount of water most years, the industry has geared itself to maximum use of that precious resource.

Read the full article here.

“Snow Man. He’s a grad student with a snowy mission. Nicholas Kinar is measuring the amount of water in snow. He hopes it will help predict droughts and floods”

On November 10th CBC radio’s “The Morning Edition” had an interview with Nicholas Kinar, a grad student at the Centre for Hydrology. You can listen to the interview here.