Abstract. While there is popular perception that Canada is a water-rich country, the Saskatchewan River Basin (SRB) in Western Canada exemplifies the multiple threats to water security seen worldwide. It is Canada's major food-producing region and home to globally-significant natural resource development. The SRB faces current water challenges stemming from: (1) a series of extreme events, including major flood and drought events, since the turn of the 21st century, (2) full allocation of existing water resources in parts of the Basin, (3) rapid population growth and economic development, (4) increasing pollution, and (5) fragmented governance that includes the Provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, various Federal and First Nations responsibilities, and international boundaries. The interplay of these factors has increased competition for increasingly scarce water resources across economic sectors and among provinces, between upstream and downstream users, between environmental flows and human needs, and among people who hold different values about the meaning, ownership, and use of water. These current challenges are set in a context of significant environmental and societal change, including widespread land modification, climate warming, and deep uncertainties about future water supplies. We outline the geographic setting of the SRB and its environmental history, and then discuss the major challenges to water security from: (1) environmental change, (2) rapid growth and economic development, and most importantly, (3) a governance model unsuited to managing complex and uncertain water systems. We conclude with a discussion of the emerging field of socio-hydrology and what it can contribute to knowledge translation, water management, policy, and governance in the SRB and worldwide.
Assessment of impacts of proposed coal-resource and related economic development on water resources, Yampa River basin, Colorado and Wyoming; a summary