Water quality – good for business health

From the foods we eat to the stuff that comes in bottles, water affects us all. Here’s how Alberta protects its precious water resources.

Cucumbers, tomatoes, flour, milk, meat, eggs.

When you’re touring your local grocery store to pick up these items and more, you might not realize that practically everything we place in our cart is affected by water.

Water isn’t just something we ingest in liquid form. Biologically speaking, it’s the primary component in the agricultural products our province is famous for. So when it comes to maintaining Alberta’s water quality, the priority is to manage water from source to table.

Since the 1950s, the Alberta government has been consistently monitoring the quality of Alberta’s water. In the last decade, though, awareness of the effects of agricultural operations on water resources has risen, according to Paul Hasselback, medical officer of health with the Chinook region.

“For many years, very little attention was given to the water used in the agricultural industry,” he says. “Today, programs like the Oldman River Basin Water Quality Initiative, Alberta Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture Program (AESA) and the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) have taken in-depth steps to see just how healthy our provincial water supplies are.”

These initiatives bring together agricultural producers, landowners, biologists, environmental groups and community residents to create water quality programs and conduct research. The results have been promising.

“That information helped us come up with solutions that can be put into place – in areas like erosion control, managing water recycling and riparian areas,” says Hasselback.

Looking after riparian or green areas around rivers and streams is one of the things that can be done to protect water quality, according to Mark Wonneck, acting regional director of the PFRA in Southern Alberta.

“The natural buffers and filters, like trees and bushes, plants and backflood meadows, help to filter out some of the natural and manmade impurities that occur.”

In 1998, the results of a five-year study of agricultural water quality were released. The $5 million water quality program funded under the Canada-Alberta Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture (CAESA) Agreement was designed to gather baseline information on Alberta’s surface and ground waters in agricultural areas, assess the potential impact of agriculture on water quality and provide the agricultural industry with the best information on how to protect the water resource.

Along with the CAESA study, water quality monitoring has continued and programs have been developed to increase awareness and help producers take steps to minimize their impact on riparian areas and water quality under a variety of programs such as the provincial Alberta Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture Program and federal National Soil and Water Conservation Program, the Alberta Environmental Sustainability Initiative and the Community Riparian Initiative.

One of the key ongoing initiatives has been the highly successful “Cows and Fish” program. The program focuses on working with agricultural producers to assess the status of their riparian areas and developing plans to improve their quality. The name “Cows and Fish” refers to the fact that good management of riparian areas is generally a win-win situation, improving forage production for cattle as well as protecting the stream and the life within it.

A clean business

Brad Wallace knows the importance of fresh water and what it can do for business. As president and CEO of Nanton Water and Soda Company, about 45 minutes south of Calgary, he sees the benefits of studies like the Oldman River Basin initiative trickle down to the end user, the consumer.

“We’ve been in this business of bottling water since 1980, and the spring itself was established in 1950,” he says. “From the tap or a bottle, it’s always been a constant concern to keep the water quality at optimum levels.”

Wallace also runs a cattle ranch just outside town. He’s fully aware of the effects his livestock can have on local water systems. This makes him even more vigilant in using strict operational guidelines.

“Ranchers are especially aware of shielding the water source and isolating certain locations where their cattle drink,” says Wallace. “Putting best practices in place, like keeping the livestock away from surface water and leading them instead to an isolated reservoir, helps to ensure the water isn’t compromised.”

When it comes to the quality of water that’s bottled here in Alberta, Wallace says companies like Nanton are closely monitored by national and international associations as well as federal, provincial and regional governments. This helps guarantee a level of safety that consumers expect every time they crack open a bottle of water.

“People who invest their lives in our industry gain nothing by cutting corners,” says Wallace. “Beyond brand recognition and water is affected by everyone who uses it.

“There is a message here of personal action,” states Saffran. “It’s not just the big businesses and farms that are affecting our water resources. It’s also people in the towns and cities that wash their cars every week or fertilize their lawns. Do they stop to think where all that extra water runs into?”

Saffran states there are thousands of variables that affect water quality; about 500 of which are tested for in the province. Longterm planning and strategies to control or eliminate some of the man-made and naturally-occurring hazards will be an ongoing process, with more funds required to maintain the quality and safety.

Says Saffran: “Agriculture is one of the final frontiers for water quality management. We’ve made great advances in managing point sources; this is where sewage and industry waste is being dumped into our water supplies. The management of non-point sources, such as runoff from agricultural land is a big issue to tackle, but there are more people willing to contribute their time and effort to make Alberta’s land and water safe. Every little bit helps.”