Land, Water, People - Living in the Watershed

The Milk River Watershed is sparsely populated compared to many of Alberta's watersheds. Approximately 3,300 people make their home here. Of these, 880 live in the Town of Milk River, 380 live in the Village of Coutts and 380 live in the Village of Warner.

With an annual precipitation of between 316 mm and 450 mm, water has always been a precious and limited resource in this area. The Town of Milk River and Village of Coutts pump water from the river to nearby settling basins and storage ponds. The Village of Warner obtains water from the diversion of irrigation water from the Milk River Reservoir, which is a part of the St. Mary River Basin.

Two rural water cooperatives, the 501 Water Cooperative Ltd. and the North Milk River Water Users Co-op obtain their water from the Town of Milk River's storage ponds.

There are several rural water cooperatives that use groundwater wells on the Whiskey Valley Aquifer. The Milk River West and Warner West cooperatives use a combined total of 124,000 cubic metres per year. The Milk River East cooperative uses approximately 114,000 cubic metres per year. In the past ten years there has been a drop in these well levels of approximately one meter.

Water Use by Communities

Agriculture in the Watershed
Agriculture is the predominant land use in the Milk River Watershed, ranging from large ranches and farms to smaller agricultural operations. There are 400 commercial farms, making up 2% of the total farms in Alberta. Grain farms dominate in the central and eastern portion of the watershed, and beef production is the focus of the western portion. Dryland grain farms are usually from 560 ha to 770 ha in size, with wheat and barley comprising the main crops.

Irrigation in the Watershed
A variety of water licenses have been issued by Alberta Environment allowing the use of water from the Milk River. Of these licenses, 93% of the water is used for agricultural purposes, irrigating a total of 3,318 ha.

Going with the Flow
Innovative technologies are being employed in the Milk River Watershed to monitor irrigation water. The Remote Monitoring Project is a pilot project of Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development. In 2005, flow meters were installed on 35 irrigation pumps. The meters monitor the amount of water being used and can be a valuable tool to help producers manage irrigation water. Eleven of these meters have communication devices that send the flow data to the internet via cellular and satellite networks. This allows Alberta Environment staff to view total water useage. The effectiveness of the monitoring devices will be evaluated in 2006.

The Milk River Watershed was selected for this study because all water users in the watershed could be included in the study. In addition, the information collected will help the Task Force that was established to assist the International Joint Commission to better understand water use in the watershed.

Water Licences for the Milk River

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