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| Table of Contents | Appendix I | Appendix II | Appendix III | Appendix IV | Contacts |

Appendix I

Saskatchewan Wetland Policy

The Government of Saskatchewan believes in the sustainable management of wetlands to maintain the multiple benefits they provide, now and into the future.

In 1990, a Soil, Water, Wetlands Task Force Report recommended the development of a provincial wetland management policy.  In 1991, the Saskatchewan Round Table on Environment and Economy identified the protection of wetland and water resources as a priority.

Increased awareness by Saskatchewan residents about the decline of the province’s wetland resources led the Government of Saskatchewan, in 1995, to develop a policy to aid in the conservation of provincial wetland resources.  The Saskatchewan Wetland Policy is seen as complementary to the development of overall land and water management strategies for the province.

Provincial residents guided the planning and development, and are continuing to guide implementation of the policy through various groups in this province.

Policy implementation is based on five key objectives:

• to increase awareness of the benefits of wetlands;
• to increase wetland monitoring;
• to coordinate government policies and programs to improve wetland management;
• to develop land-use planning guidelines for wetland management; and
• to encourage landowners to maintain wetlands.

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Appendix II

Sask. Water’s Water Export Policy Top

Export of Water Beyond Provincial Boundaries for Use in Canada:

Consideration will be given to requests, for use of water by other provinces, where the use is for municipal or domestic purposes and the quantity will not have a detrimental impact on existing users.  Associated environmental impacts will be fully considered.  The manner of conveyance will be subject to existing provincial and federal legislation.

Export of Water Beyond Canadian Boundaries:

Containerized Transport - Ground or surface water supplies can be considered for export, subject to all provincial and federal law, where it can be satisfactorily demonstrated that the water supply exists in quantities surplus to existing and anticipated future uses, including full consideration of environmental impacts provided that:  the water is shipped in container volumes equal to or less than 10 litres; the water is in a final processed condition ready for retail sale as a primarily water beverage; and, the total quantity of all containerized water authorized for annual export at any one time shall be less than 20,000 cubic decametres.

Conveyance by Pipeline, Canal, or Natural Water Course - No water export proposal shall be approved by the Province of Saskatchewan where the conveyance of water would be by pipeline, canal or natural water course.

Appendix III

The availability of water is determined by climate characteristics, geology and landforms, and the hydrologic cycle.  The hydrologic cycle is a world-wide circulation system in which water is evaporated from the earth’s surface, condenses to form clouds and is returned to the earth as precipitation.  When the precipitation reaches the ground surface, it may run off into streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands or soak into the ground and be stored in soil and rock formations known as aquifers, or taken up by vegetation and transpired back into the atmosphere.  Its energy source is the sun, which controls the primary factors of light, wind and temperature.

As water moves through the hydrologic cycle, it supports a variety of life forms that make up our natural ecosystem.  An ecosystem is an interacting system that consists of living organisms and their non-living environment.  The living part consists of plants, animals and humans while the non-living part consists of water and soil.  The aquatic ecosystem is any ecosystem where the life forms are at least partially submerged in water for a part of the day or year.  The most common are lakes and rivers where water levels are relatively stable and the ecosystems are under water.  However, aquatic ecosystems also are found at the interface between land and water.

Water must be managed within the natural constraints of the hydrologic cycle (figure 1) and natural ecosystems to provide for all societal needs.

A brief characterization of Saskatchewan’s water resource and its management is presented under the topics of climate and ecoregions, watersheds, surface water, ground water and  water development.

Figure 1: The Hydrologic Cycle

The ecosystems of the province can be broadly classified into four primary ecozones.  These are recognized as the Prairie, Boreal Plain, Boreal Shield and Taiga Shield (Figure 2).  Although there is much variation in landforms and ecosystems within these zones, they serve to broadly define differences in the availability and quality of aquatic ecosystems and types of uses and developments that have been made of the water resource.  Each ecozone supports many unique habitats which consist of food, water, shelter and space that must be present to support the various forms of life in the ecozone.  The balance between runoff and evaporation, the rate and timing of runoff and evaporation, and seasonal variations in temperature all influence aquatic habitat.

The southern prairie ecozone receives, on average, from 350 to 420 millimetres (mm) of annual precipitation.  Most of the region’s land has been developed for agricultural purposes.  It is also characterized by ‘pothole topography’, a rich source of wetlands.  Most of this region can be described as being semi-arid, meaning for any large body of water the average annual evaporation exceeds the average annual precipitation.

The three other ecozones are essentially non-agricultural and largely forested.  The ground surface changes gradually from glacial soils to exposed rock of the Canadian Shield north of the Prairie zone. The average annual precipitation increases to a maximum of 520 mm in the southern Boreal Plain ecozone, decreasing to 260 mm in the most northern Taiga Shield ecozone.

Figure 2: EcoRegions of Saskatchewan

Most of the water that collects from precipitation will either soak into the ground surface or will combine with other runoff and ultimately drain to one river or body of water.  The land area from which this water drains is called a watershed. Figure 3 shows the major watersheds or river basins in the province.  These watersheds make up the basic units used to plan and manage the water that drains into them.  Most are dominated by one major river that can receive most of the runoff from all parts of the watershed.

The water leaving each watershed in Saskatchewan has three primary destinations: the Arctic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico or Hudson Bay.  Most of the watersheds that drain to the east empty into the Saskatchewan and Nelson rivers and on to Hudson Bay.  These include rivers like the North and South Saskatchewan rivers.

North of the Saskatchewan River basin is the Churchill River basin, which drains into the Nelson River in Manitoba and ultimately to the Hudson Bay.  North of that, the water drains north and west into the Athabasca and Mackenzie River basins and on into the Arctic Ocean.  In the extreme southern part of the province, the water drains to the United States and into the Missouri River drainage system that drains to the Gulf of Mexico.

As the map shows, most of our rivers cross provincial or international boundaries.  Saskatchewan must share water with either an upstream or a downstream province, the Northwest Territories, or the United States.  The manner of sharing is in most cases based on an agreement between the jurisdictions. Typically, these agreements call for the upstream jurisdiction to provide 50 per cent of the flow to the downstream jurisdiction.

Watershed boundaries do not coincide with the boundaries of major ground water aquifers (Figure 4).  Although there is an interaction between ground and surface water, the complete assessment of an aquifer may require the study of more than one watershed, and development of ground water sources in one watershed may produce an impact on ground water sources underlying adjacent watersheds.

Surface water supplies are made up largely of streams, rivers, lakes, reservoirs and wetlands.  The availability of these supplies is monitored by hydrometric stations at more than 250 locations around the province.  Through the use of these stations, the annual volumes of runoff that occur from all watersheds can be determined directly, or estimated.  The water quality is also monitored at a number of locations for a specified list of contaminants that varies depending on upstream uses.

Rivers
Surface supplies in the form of streams and rivers that originate in the prairie ecoregion are highly variable from year to year, and even within a year.  Normally, most of the runoff (65 to 75 per cent) will occur in the months of March through May as a result of melting snow.  Many streams will go nearly dry over the summer months and will only be supplemented by ground water discharge from springs or when above normal summer precipitation occurs.  Normally, average amounts of summer precipitation produce little or no runoff.

Water supply variability is most often characterized by periods of flood and drought.  Saskatchewan has experienced many droughts since human settlement in the early 1900s, the most notable being that of the period 1930 to 1940 - the ‘Dirty Thirties’.  During that time, the annual volumes of runoff in many watersheds was the lowest in the past 75 years.  However, the mid-1980s was also a time of extreme drought in the prairie region and some watersheds experienced less runoff during that period than during the 1930s.  Although the prairie region is generally more prone to drought than the other regions, severe drought can occur in the boreal forest region.  The period ending in 1993 saw nearly 15 years of below average precipitation in many parts of this region and some rivers, like the Churchill, experienced their lowest flows on record.

Periods of extreme flooding have also occurred.  Most of the province experienced severe flooding during the mid-1950s and the mid-1970s.  Millions of dollars of damage resulted to roads and highways, communities, private property and to agricultural land.

As Figure 3 shows, not all of Saskatchewan’s surface water originates in the prairie region.  The Saskatchewan River system, made up of the North and South Saskatchewan rivers, receives almost 80 per cent of its flows from the Rocky Mountains in Alberta.  These rivers are the most stable sources of water in the prairie region.  Although they fluctuate due to flood and drought, they experience much less variability than the other prairie streams.  The annual volumes of flow in the North and South Saskatchewan rivers exceed the total of annual runoff in all of the prairie streams combined.  These rivers also exhibit a superior water quality to that of the prairie streams.

Smaller streams in the prairie region tend to have a water quality that is highly affected by the type of runoff.  Runoff from the largely agricultural area brings nutrients and, to some degree, residues of insecticides and herbicides applied to crops.  As runoff subsides, the water quality tends to deteriorate. All streams tend to show relatively large concentrations of naturally occurring organics.  Some of the streams receive discharges from municipal lagoons, which increases the organic and nutrient levels.

The quality of the water at boundary crossing points on major streams that flow eastward within Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba has been monitored for the past 20 years.  This monitoring shows the water quality at any location has generally not deteriorated and in many cases has improved, and generally meets surface water quality objectives established by the three prairie provinces.  Where there have been observations that objectives are not being met, investigations have been initiated to determine the sources of the contamination.  In most instances where the objectives are not being met, it is due to natural conditions.

In the ecozones north of the prairie zone, beyond the largely agricultural portion of the province, the amount of annual evaporation is much less as is the variability in annual precipitation.  Consequently, surface supplies are more plentiful and tend to be more stable than those in the prairie zone.

Lakes and Reservoirs
About 12 per cent of Saskatchewan is covered by water in the form of lakes and reservoirs.  Natural lakes are not very abundant in the prairie ecozone, due largely to the type of topography.  Most large bodies of water are formed as reservoirs behind dams or weirs.  A unique characteristic of some prairie lakes is that they do not have a natural outlet that allows water to drain out of the lake in most years.  These lakes go through long periods of continual increase or decrease in response to the annual precipitation.  Lakes such as Old Wives Lake in southwest Saskatchewan can range in size from several hundred hectares to near zero, as was experienced in 1988 as a result of the drought.  Lakes that have a natural outlet tend to experience less extreme ranges of fluctuation.

Figure 3: Major Surface Drainage Basins of Saskatchewan

Reservoirs are an important source of water supply for many parts of the province.  Without dams and reservoirs, some areas, particularly in the southwest, would not have access to a year-round supply of water.  Water levels in reservoirs behind large dams such as Lake Diefenbaker can change significantly, the result of the variation in runoff from year to year and because of the way they are managed.

Waterbodies that are rich in nutrients like phosphorous and nitrogen are eutrophic.  The ecosystems in these bodies normally support large and diverse populations of fish, but often suffer from oxygen depletion during the warm summer months.  Most prairie lakes and reservoirs are characterized as being eutrophic, generally due to naturally occurring sources.  This situation results in abundant weed growth and algae blooms during the summer.

Oligotrophic water bodies are those in which nutrient levels are very low.  The lakes in the northern zones tend to be oligotrophic.

Wetlands
Wetlands are a precious natural resource in their own right.  They include sloughs, marshes, potholes as well as lakes and rivers.  They play a critical role by balancing the essential components of soil, water and wildlife habitat as a filter for runoff, a recharge for ground water and adjacent habitat for wildlife.  These range from temporary or seasonal wetlands that may hold water for a few weeks each year to permanent wetlands that contain water year-round.

The prairie ecozone of the province contains about 1.5 million wetlands which cover 1.7 million hectares of land.  The number of wetlands varies from year to year, depending primarily on the amount of precipitation and runoff.  Over the past 30 years, 1974 exhibited the largest number of wetlands while 1981 had the least.  Human activities also contribute to the reduction in wetlands.  Since the time of settlement, the Canadian prairies have experienced a reduction of about 1.2 million hectares of wetlands, due primarily to reclamation of land for agricultural and urban development purposes.  It is estimated that Saskatchewan has lost about 40 per cent of its wetlands since the time of first settlement in the province. The development of roads and railways has also contributed to the drainage of some wetlands.

Figure 4: Major Aquifers in Saskatchewan

Ground water is an integral component in the hydrologic cycle and a significant source of water in Saskatchewan.  Ground water sources vary depending on the type of sediments or rocks that make up the aquifers and their source of surface water.  Most ground water aquifers are recharged by the downward percolation of precipitation that has infiltrated through the soil to the aquifer.  Generally, the deeper the aquifer, the more reliable the supply, but the poorer the water quality. Although it is an important source of drinking water, most ground water does not meet the Canadian Drinking Water Guidelines, but the water can be treated to meet the guidelines.  The Canadian Drinking Water Guidelines contain recommendations for chemical, physical, radiological and biological parameters necessary to protect and enhance designated uses of water

Most of Saskatchewan is underlain by sediments of glacial origin referred to as glacial till.  The thickness of the glacial till is highly variable depending on location, ranging from 0 to more than 250 metres.  When the glaciers melted, sediments were deposited by the melt waters.  These now provide an important source of water for farms and for some municipalities.  These sources are produced from layers of sand and gravel found within the glacial deposits.  The sizes of these aquifers are quite variable, may be depleted by a single well, and are vulnerable to changes in annual precipitation at the surface.  These aquifers often show seasonal changes in the level of the water and are particularly susceptible to drought. These sources can generally only be found through localized drilling.

Within the glacial deposits are another source known as buried valley aquifers — preglacial valleys cut into bedrock sediments and filled with sediments from glacial deposits.  These aquifers are generally high yielding and have been extensively mapped.  The largest of these are the Hatfield Valley and Tyner Valley aquifers.

Below the glacial aquifers are the bedrock aquifers.  These are made up of layers of sediment laid down by ancient seas.  They tend to be found at depths in excess of 100 metres and the supplies are less responsive to surface conditions of precipitation.  They tend to show no seasonal fluctuation.  The quality of the ground water in the bedrock aquifers generally requires treatment to reduce the mineral and salt content.  For that reason, they are a good source of water for industrial purposes.

Because of their connection to the surface, ground water sources need to be protected from land use activities.  Lagoons, landfill sites, underground storage tanks, septic tanks, industrial sites, feedlots, etc. all have the potential to allow contaminants to combine with surface water which can seep into an aquifer.  In most cases, suitable standards for construction of these projects have been developed to significantly reduce the potential for contamination.

Since the time of Saskatchewan’s first settlement in the late 1800s, there has been a need to divert or store water to support human activity.  This development has included the building of dams on streams and rivers for water supply, development of ground water wells, construction of weirs on rivers,  the development of dugouts for farm water supplies and the construction of drainage channels to reduce agricultural flooding.  The province has more than 15,000 water use approvals on record, not including wells and dugouts.

Most of the works are relatively minor.  There are more than 60,000 wells in use and thousands of dugouts.  There are in excess of 7,000 small dams on creeks and streams that are primarily for stock watering purposes.  However, there are also a number of what could be considered more major works that store water and require ongoing management to ensure everyone benefits from the available water supply.  As many as 191 structures need to be regularly inspected as part of a provincial dam safety program.

The largest dams in the province are generally associated with power development, either as a source of water for thermal power cooling or as a hydro-electric energy source.  Boundary and Rafferty reservoirs near Estevan and Cookson reservoir near Coronach are major sources of thermal power cooling water.  Gardiner, E.B. Campbell and Nipawin dams on the Saskatchewan River system are used for hydro-electric energy production.  The largest of the dams is Gardiner Dam near Outlook.  This dam and reservoir project is a large multi-purpose project that provides a source of water for irrigation, recreation, wildlife, municipal water supply and hydro-electric energy generation. 

Irrigation has been practised in Saskatchewan for more than 100 years.  The earliest water development projects were put in place to make use of available water to grow hay and increase the viability of ranches in the southwest part of the province.  Early legislation to regulate the use of water for irrigation forms the basis for much of the water rights administration in place in Saskatchewan today.  There are currently more than 130,000 hectares of land under irrigation and it is considered a valuable component of the local economy.

The development of water works has brought about changes in water use.  Some water is consumed directly in the activity, such as irrigation and municipal use, while in others the water is used in its stored or flowing state for recreation, hydro-electric energy, wildlife habitat or for dilution of municipal and industrial effluent.  Dams can be used to store water as a source of supply in the reservoir or as a source that can release water for downstream use when required, to keep stream flows at a desired level, or again to be diverted for other uses.

Figure 5 shows the approximate manner in which ground and surface water is used.  The majority of the water consumed in the province is for irrigation use. The term ‘multiple use’ includes most of the wildlife projects where water is stored for wetland creation.  However, these are generally multiple use projects which often provide benefits for irrigation and municipal use.  Figure 5 shows ground water use is primarily for industrial and municipal/domestic use, while surface water is an important source for nearly all potential uses of water.

Figure 5 shows that ground water is a very important source of supply for municipal and domestic purposes.  Approximately 45 per cent of the population rely on ground water as a source of drinking water.  Another 40 per cent  rely on the surface water supply in the South Saskatchewan River, while the remainder, approximately 15 per cent, rely on dugouts and small dams.

Figure 5: Surface and Ground Water Consumption in Saskatchewan

Appendix IV

Aboriginal People -- includes all Indian, Métis and Inuit people

Aquifer -- a geological formation or group of formations capable of yielding significant economic quantities of ground water to wells and springs; permeable layers of underground rock or sand that hold or transmit ground water below the water table

Aquaculture -- the cultivation of plants or breeding of animals in water

Biodiversity -- the variability among all life forms on the earth including plants, animals, micro-organisms, the genes they possess and their habitat

Buffer Strips -- land adjacent to an area to be protected which separates it from some potentially damaging activity (e.g., cultivation, forest harvesting, mining)

Buried Valley Aquifer -- preglacial valleys cut into bedrock sediments and filled with sediments from glacial deposits

Conservation -- the maintenance or use of natural resources in a manner that provides sustainable benefits

Conservation Easement -- a legal agreement between a property owner and a conservation agency to restrict the type and amount of development on the owner’s property

Contaminant -- unwholesome or undesirable element, which when introduced makes something unfit for use

Cubic Decametre -- volume of liquid representing 10m x 10m x 10m (1,000m³) which is equal to about 220,000 gallons

Domestic -- of the home; domestic water use is used by individual households or farmsteads

Ecological -- pertaining to the relations between living organisms and their environment

Economic Development -- the process of using and converting resources into wealth, jobs and an enhanced quality of life

Ecosystem Integrity -- the soundness or ‘wholeness’ of an ecosystem
(e.g. an ecosystem in which essential environmental processes and ecosystem functions are both adequate and in balance)

Eutrophication --  is a natural aging process whereby a body of water becomes richer in plant nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen.  Although eutrophication is a natural process and is common to shallow (and hence warm) prairie lakes, people can dramatically accelerate the process.  The disposal of sewage into a watercourse, or activities which result in increased erosion of soil into the water, can increase the concentration of available plant nutrients

Habitat -- the natural home of a plant or animal

Herbicides -- an agent used to destroy or inhibit plant growth

Hydro Power -- electricity produced from the energy of flowing water.  Water flows through a turbine, spinning the blades, which rotate a generator, producing electricity

Hydrologic Cycle -- the earth’s water system, described by the movement of water from the oceans to the atmosphere to the continents and back to the sea

Hydrology -- the science that deals with the waters of the earth, their occurrence, circulation and distribution

Interbasin Transfer -- the relocation of water from its natural drainage basin to another basin in a different river system

Instream Use -- use of water which does not result in consumption of the water or withdrawal from the source
(e.g. navigation, recreation, fisheries)

Integrated Resource Management -- managing the whole ecosystem, including soil, water, trees, animals and plants to meet a variety of objectives. 
It allows for a broad range of resource uses and gives all stakeholders the opportunity to be informed and involved in management planning

Local Government -- refers to locally elected government bodies, such as municipalities, Conservation Area Authorities and Watershed Associations

Mitigation -- measures undertaken to minimize or offset losses or damage to some aspect of the environment

Municipal Lagoon -- a small, artificial pool for treatment of effluent produced by a community

Oligotrophic -- water bodies with very low nutrient levels; the opposite to eutrophic water bodies

Pesticide -- an agent, including both insecticides and herbicides, used to destroy pests

Potable Water Supply -- a supply of drinkable water

Pothole Topography -- landscape containing small (less than two hectare), shallow, semi-permanent ponds which were formed in glacial deposits during the melting of the glaciers

Public Involvement -- the range of methods which involve the public with planning, policy-making and program development and delivery; includes education, information exchange, consultation, partnerships,
co-management and delegation

Riparian -- adjacent to the bank of a river, lake or pond

River Basin -- an area bounded by its drainage divide and subject to surface and subsurface drainage under gravity to the ocean or interior lakes

River Drainage System -- a system or network of stream channels usually connected in a hierarchical fashion

Safe Building Elevation -- the elevation below which structures should not be located because of flood hazard

Sewage Effluent -- the outflow of wastewater from a sewer or system of sewers

Stakeholder -- a person or group with a direct or indirect interest, or ‘stake’, in an issue

Statement of Principles -- a detailed description of the proposed ethic, vision, mission, values and strategic principles which will guide water management

Stewardship -- the care of property or resources for others

Sustainable -- capable of being maintained indefinitely, the ability to sustain a resource over time.  For example, sustainable deer management permits deer hunting at rates that allow deer populations to rebuild themselves

Sustainable Development -- development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

Thermal Power -- electricity generated by power stations which burn oil, coal, or natural gas to generate steam which is used to turn turbines and rotate a generator

Urban Runoff -- Storm water runoff in urban areas which is often contaminated with pollutants (e.g, byproducts of automobiles and lawn and garden care, industrial fallout)

Watershed -- a discrete geographic area, characterized by a rise of land at the boundaries, within which all water would drain to a single outlet

Water Management Infrastructure -- comprised of the physical works (dams, canals, pipelines, flood control works, etc.) and a jurisdiction’s water management capabilities (monitoring, administration, development, management and operation of facilities, flood forecasting, water resources management and planning, regulatory functions including enforcement, and wildlife and fisheries management)

Wetlands -- low-lying areas of land saturated by water often enough to support aquatic plants and wildlife.  Wetlands include a wet basin and an area of land between the basin and the adjacent upland

For More Information Contact:

EDean@serm.gov.sk.ca
Saskatchewan Environment
3211 Albert St., Regina, Saskatchewan S4S 5W6
or
Sask Water Corporation
Water Resource Management Division
Victoria Place, 111 Fairford St. E., Moose Jaw Saskatchewan S6H 7X9
E-mail: comm@saskwater.com
Web page: www.saskwater.com