Irrigation in Alberta

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Historicizing Adaptation Blog Series

Amid the dry years of the 2020s, water management in southern Alberta has been a hot topic. Irrigation has been underway in the provincial south for well over a century, and so adapting older infrastructure to evolving needs and concerns has been a longstanding challenge. “Water and the Modern Prairies” will investigate efforts in the 1960s and 1970s to establish appropriate maintenance standards and practices for irrigation infrastructure. This case-study will speak to challenges — in Alberta and elsewhere — of adapting built environments to changing circumstances, both human and environmental.

A grassy slope and a gravel road dominate the foreground, with a wide blue sky in the background.
A view of Saint Mary Dam, a rolled-earth structure in southern Alberta, 2018.
Feature Image: The iced-over waters of Saint Mary Reservoir in southern Alberta, April 2018.