A little over a year ago, Alberta's environment minister wrote to municipalities, asking them to find ways to use less water in light of the drought.
The following year brought extremely low reservoir levels, what the province called the largest water-sharing agreement in its history, and a new conversation about the province's water supply.
It's been a roller-coaster of a season for farmers like Alison Davey of North Paddock Farm, which started dry and worried and ended with the relief of ample rain.
“We weren't really sure what we were going to face,” Davey said. “In the end, it went much better than we expected in March.”
Now, going into 2025, the biggest wild card is – as always – Mother Nature.
“Next year again, we're hoping we get a lot of snow in the mountains, and that continues to fill the reservoirs, and then we're hoping for a full water allocation next spring,” Davey said.
“Then, let's continue to grow the best quality crops we can.”
Davey and other farmers are still watching and waiting to see what 2025 will bring.
But early signs are more positive in the province than at this time last year, when the environment minister was reaching out to municipalities with his warnings, said Trevor Hadwen, agroclimatologist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
“Last year, about 98 percent of the acreage on the prairies in general was affected by drought,” Hedwein said.
“This year, we're down to about 35 percent. So, a very significant reduction in overall drought conditions.”
With very good conditions in most parts of Alberta, soil moisture is also good this winter, Hedwein said.
“We're looking for those big snow events, and hopefully that moisture will melt away in the spring,” he said.
Long-term challenges
A spokeswoman for Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz said it's too early to predict what 2025 will bring. But the province cited its drought response plan, water sharing agreement and drought and flood grant program, allocated $125 million over five years, as the flagship of last year's strategy to navigate drought conditions.
“We know water conservation measures taken this year have helped southern Alberta's reservoir levels recover after several dry seasons, with many reservoirs in significantly better shape than a year ago,” Ryan Fournier wrote in an email.
“We will continue to closely monitor conditions and long-term forecasts as we work to address long-term water challenges through a province-wide review of water storage opportunities to continue to grow and thrive in our province.”
There are still some challenging areas with long-term moisture deficits that haven't recovered from drought conditions, according to Hedwen, an agricultural climate specialist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
This includes areas west of Edmonton, west of Red Deer, and in the southwest corner of the province. In those areas, stream flows, such as reservoirs, are still low after using up significant amounts of water during hot and dry conditions, Hadwen said.
“Again, we're in much better shape than last year, especially in the eastern half of the province, but we have some concerns going into the winter,” he said. “However, not as close as last year.”
Experts say southern Alberta is likely to see more challenges surrounding its water supply in the future. Growing population and the possibility of More frequent and severe droughts.
The province has not said whether it will adopt the water-sharing model in future years, although it has recently called the model a huge success. Those agreements will remain in effect until the last day of 2024.
