Status and challenges of groundwater resources in Canada and - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Status and challenges of groundwater resources in Canada and between Canada and the U.S.

• Dr. Alfonso Rivera

Chief Hydrogeologist Geological Survey of Canada

El Paso, TX, April 10-11, 2019

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Canada

Area ~10 M km2 World 2nd largest 37 M inhabitants GW use 30% GW resources - Prov. Gov. GW recharge– 385 km3/yr GW use – 1 km3/yr GW in storage- 90 000 km3

U.S.A.

Area ~9.8 M km2 World 3rd/4th largest 330 M inhabitants GW use 50% GW resources - States Gov. GW recharge – 1300 Km3/yr GW use – 115 Km3/yr GW in storage- 200 000 km3

MEXICO

Area ~2 M km2 World 14th largest 127 M inhabitants GW use 60% GW resources - Fed Gov. GW recharge – 307 km3/yr GW use – 50 Km3/yr GW in storage- 458 km3

North American Context

3 (Rivera, 2014)

Canada’s Groundwater Resources

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Canada’s groundwater resources and groundwater use

Canadian Geographic, (adapted from Rivera, 2014)

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Canada’s Groundwater Resources STATUS

Data  Information  Availability  Management  Sustainability:

• Surface-water resources: more or less complete
• Groundwater resources: still incomplete

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A big challenge: The management of water resource of Canada

• Decentralized Government.
• 20 federal departments are involved in water issues.
• Water resources management is shared by 13

jurisdictions.

• There is no Canadian water policy.
• GW regulations differ from province to province.
• A common vision for GW resources assessment and

management for Canada is slowly emerging.

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Canada’s Groundwater Resources ISSUES

• Renewable water –vs – Fossil water
• Availability –vs – Sustainability (use)
• Space and time scales
• Recharge –vs – Discharge
• Climate variability –vs – Climate Change
• Transboundary groundwater –vs- Transboundary

aquifers

Trying to clear and agree upon these before harmonizing transboundary approaches

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Canada-United States Shared Boundary Waters

• Near 300 water ways along more than 8800 km
• Over 20 million Canadians live in watersheds that cross the Canada-USA border

(IJC, 2017)

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Groundwater Resources between Canada and the U.S.

(Rivera, 2015)

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The Milk River Transboundary Aquifer case:

(Pétré et al., 2016)

The Milk River TBA – UNESCO #20N, 30’000 km2

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Aquifer Boundaries or Groundwater Flow Systems? Scale matters

(Pétré et al., 2016) 750K years 500K years 250K years 1M – 1.5 M years Recent

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Provincial government interests: GW allocation and management Municipalities interests: Technical & Social issues

First Nations interests: Environment & Social issues State government interests: GW allocation and management US/Canada interests: Assessment, planning, sharing, conflict resolution

Industry interests: Gas field, wells issues

Aquifer Boundaries or Groundwater Flow Systems? Multiple stakes, multiple interests

(Rivera, 2017)

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Canada–US transboundary aquifers

Special Case: The Great Lakes Basin

• Many unconsolidated Quaternary aquifers contribute to the GLB’s water

balance; however, they are still to be identified as transboundary.

• Plans to build a 3D SW/GW model of the GLB by the two countries,

which will likely identify the transboundariness of the aquifers.

14 (Rivera, 2015)

Groundwater Resources between Canada and the U.S.

The International Joint Commission (IJC, Canada/US) has issued its triennial assessment report that recommends activities to improve the understanding of groundwater and its connectivity to surface waters in the shared waters of the Great Lakes Basin (IJC, 2017).