Documentary on water crisis to be shown this weekend in Pincher Creek
A documentary on the southern Alberta water crisis developed by the Livingstone Landowners group will be shown Saturday in Pincher Creek.
“Dried Up, What Now?” will be shown at The Vertical Church, 1200 Ken Thornton Blvd at 2:30 p.m. An earlier viewing in Lundbreck at Oldman River Brewing is sold out.
The documentary is being launched “to help raise awareness of the impact of declining water levels in the region and spur discussion on solutions,” says the landowners group.
“Southern Alberta is experiencing a severe drought, compounded by a warmer winter and a lower snowpack than normal. The Oldman Reservoir is only 30 per cent full and the river systems feeding it are flowing at lower levels than normal, heightening concerns about a worsening drought this summer,” says a media release.
Since last August, the MD of Pincher Creek has been forced to truck in raw and potable water to its water treatment plant to serve several small communities in the region as water levels in the dam are below normal intake levels.
“Water security in southern Alberta is an ongoing concern given the heavy demands of multiple users in a historically water scarce region,” said LLG president, Norma Dougall. “What we are seeing now is impact of gradual changes over the years that have made us less able to manage with reduced water flows.”
Tree ring studies have shown that drought is not new to southwestern Alberta with previous periods of sustained drought interspersed with long stretches of higher flow levels, says the group. But the demand for water has continued to increase year-over-year because of Alberta’s growing population, increased agricultural demands and current and proposed development and disruption in the sensitive headwaters region.
The documentary will explore those factors and discuss potential mitigation strategies as well as solutions. It will be followed by a question-and-answer session led by film producers Yvan Level and Kevin Van Tighem.