The Government of Alberta is seeking feedback on the Ardley Reservoir proposal. From the government website:
“We are asking Albertans for feedback on the Ardley Reservoir Scoping and Feasibility Study. Your input will help inform options to increase water storage capacity and enhance water security in the Red Deer River Basin east of the City of Red Deer.
Input on the potential dam and water storage reservoir will help us assess the feasibility of designing, constructing, and operating a potential new dam and water storage reservoir on the Red Deer River. This will include potential social, economic and environmental impacts and benefits.”
The survey is available at https://www.alberta.ca/ardley-reservoir-study-survey?page=1
The Alberta Wilderness Association has posted an Action Alert (https://www.albertawilderness.ca/action-alert-alberta-seeking-input-on-ardley-reservoir/)
From the AWA Action Alert:
“The Ardley Reservoir has been proposed as additional water storage on the Red Deer River. The project intends to build a dam near Ardley, flooding the area just east of the city of Red Deer.
As an organization, AWA does not support additional dam and reservoir infrastructure in the province. Our rivers are already facing significant pressures from degradation and overuse; damming further risks their health, integrity, and function, and it does not address the root causes of water-related concerns.
The Alberta government has stated that these dams will provide drought resilience, flood mitigation, irrigation support, and municipal and industrial water supply. However, dams are not the only, or even ideal, solution and it is not always possible to manage dams to address all these issues at the same time.
For example, mitigating flood severity requires leaving reservoirs low to absorb incoming flows, while providing drought resilience requires reservoirs to retain and store high volumes of water. As these types of disasters become more frequent, severe, and unpredictable due to climate change, it will become increasingly difficult to predict conditions and adapt management in response.”
The AWA has presented their responses to the survey expressing the many environmental concerns of damming our rivers and offers alternatives to achieve the same goals.