How Much Water to Extract for Human Use?
Domestic, industrial and agricultural water use is rising across Canada, putting many rivers and lakes under increasing strain. The extraction of oil from bitumen in the Athabasca oil sands in Alberta is a noteworthy example of an increasing water need. DFO’s mandate to protect fish and fish habitat results in the department having to make decisions on how much water can be withdrawn while still maintaining natural aquatic ecosystems. This field of science is called Instream Flow Needs, and combines the expertise of hydrologists, engineers and biologists to understand the relationship of fish habitat to flow. A complex array of tools and data is needed to generate hydraulic models that are used to predict the changes in fish habitat in response to altered flow regimes. DFO’s mandate to protect fish and fish habitat results in the department having to make decisions on how much water can be withdrawn while still maintaining natural aquatic ecosystems. This field of science is called Ins
