Water is essential to all life and should be recognized as a human right and protected and prioritized for basic human needs and for the ecosystems on which our survival depends. The Government of Alberta, however, is poised to make major irreversible changes to how we allocate water throughout Alberta. Their plan would create a deregulated market system that will give control of our water to a few who would profit by selling something they got for free. We are calling on the government to instead establish a system that respects treaty rights and puts the needs of people, our communities, and the environment first.

There are many issues with the plans and actions of the government on water. Click on any issue for more details on it:

• Applying markets to water and failing to protect water for essential needs
• Current allocation system is deeply flawed and adding markets will make it worse
• Lack of public consultation
• Disastrous consequences of water markets around the world
• Considering neither other options nor the risks of introducing markets
• Implications under free trade agreements
• First Nations treaty rights and lack of First Nations consultation
• Alberta is facing a water crisis

Applying markets to water and failing to protect water for essential needs

Markets for sneakers or sports cars are one thing. It is entirely different to apply markets to water, the source of all life, and allocate water according to ability to pay. The Government of Alberta refuses to recognize water as a human right, and the proposed changes would neither prioritize water for human needs, communities, ecosystems and future generations, nor would they respect treaty rights. The changes would only benefit a select few--namely those with the largest bank accounts who have the ability to out-compete your average person in buying access to water and the small group of license holders who hold licenses to the majority of water in Alberta. That small group of license holders will be able to make large profits by selling what the government (on behalf of the public) has given them for free.

By pursuing these plans, the government would abdicate its role of allocating water according to the priorities we choose as a society, and would instead leave allocations to be decided by ability to pay and give extensive control over our water to a small group of people with senior licenses.

Current allocation system is deeply flawed and adding markets will make it worse

The recommended changes do not challenge the 19th-century “First in Time, First in Right” (FIT FIR) principle, but rather propose adding the use of water markets as the means for water allocation, allowing water licenses to become private property to be bought, sold and traded.

Many problems exist with the current system, including extensive over-allocation, where existing allocations already give rights to use more water than is available in the water body. As the Conference Board of Canada cautioned in its “Going With the Flow?” report, "Water markets are not a panacea for the shortcomings of existing systems. They cannot compensate for poor management practices, nor solve problems of over-allocation, and may create incentives for further withdrawals in already stressed ecosystems. The impact of water markets on rural agricultural communities is not well understood. In addition, impacts on third parties are hard to predict and difficult to address when transactions change long-standing allocations."

For Alberta, adding markets to the current system will certainly not solve the existing problems and, in fact, by allowing users to sell unused portions of their allocation, will exacerbate the problems.

Lack of public consultation

The province is considering enormous changes to the way we allocate water in Alberta. However, they have not involved First Nations or the broader public in this process. They have promised public consultations on multiple occasions and have failed to deliver. Yet, they have been consulting heavily with industry and business, and in a style of top-down democracy they have already selected and pursued a certain policy direction and will not consult the public until after they have almost completely developed their plans for new legislation.

Disastrous consequences of water markets around the world

Jurisdictions beyond Alberta, such as Chile and Australia, who have used water markets have seen devastating consequences, where rivers have run dry and towns have been left waterless because other entities with more money were able to buy up licenses. For example, John Caldecott, Convenor of the Water Action Coalition in Australia, in speaking of their move to water markets, stated, "it has become the biggest scandal and disaster of our time ... in terms of its economic, social and environmental significance."

Click here for links to resources on the International Experiences with water markets, including South Australia's Water and Environmental Disaster, a short piece by John Caldecott, and a report on the impact of water markets in Chile.

Considering neither other options nor the risks of introducing markets

The Alberta government has looked exclusively at market options, ignoring their responsibility to explore all options and present them to people in Alberta for meaningful public consultation. As the Conference Board of Canada report states, "The introduction of property rights to water, and the introduction of markets in such rights, is very complex and costly. It is not something to be undertaken lightly."

Yet the government has not acted responsibly in approaching this, failing to consult meaningfully, adequately consider the full range of implications of water markets, assess the impact under trade agreements, consider the impact given prospects of increasing drought and diminishing water supply due to factors such as climate change, and, importantly, consider any options outside of water markets.

The Conference Board of Canada notes, "Water rights transfers based on market principles are a specific type of possible [water] reform, but only represent one option. It is preferable to take a holistic look at water allocation problems before delving into specific potential solutions such as water markets."

Yet, the Alberta government has decided to consider only this one narrow option, which has resulted in a host of problems in other jurisdictions where it has been tried, while ignoring all other possible options and failing to present those options to the public. It is anti-democratic and unacceptable to make such major policy changes without broad and meaningful consultations with the public, impacted groups and First Nations on the full range of options before making changes to the Water Act.

Implications under free trade agreements

Moving to a water-market system and commodifying water creates the potential for serious issues because of international trade agreements. Those trade agreements will make it virtually impossible to repeal the changes being considered. They also open the door to trade challenges in any situation where government or the public would move to protect water for public use at the expense of any profitable use.

As the Conference Board of Canada report cautioned, “Trade agreements, especially NAFTA, may pose significant risks to water management regimes that include the buying and selling of rights ... this will require careful consideration and detailed international trade legal analysis to ensure that policy changes do not introduce unintended consequences under trade rules.”

The implications under trade agreements are complicated, unclear and potentially very serious. The government has the responsibility to analyze the issue and provide clear assurance that changes would not negatively impact Alberta, and by extension the rest of Canada, before moving ahead with any policy changes.

First Nations treaty rights and lack of First Nations consultation

The Assembly of First Nations has issued a resolution addressing how water markets are a violation of treaty rights. The Government of Alberta has a fiduciary responsibility to respect the unique relationship and rights First Nations have regarding the land and water. First Nations rights and traditional practices, including fishing, hunting, and trapping, are all dependent on healthy freshwater ecosystems. Therefore, threats and impacts to water quality and quantity have direct implications for the cultural and economic survival of First Nation peoples. First Nations' rights require that they be meaningfully involved in water use and allocation decisions, as they are important factors in water management decision-making across the country.

Alberta is facing a water crisis

Alberta's water experts say that we are facing an alarming water crisis. We are seeing declines in flow due to climate change, shrinking glaciers and decreasing snow-pack. There is certainly a need to update Alberta's water policy; however, any policy will have to deal with reduced access to water. In the face of those challenges, we need a policy that can respect treaty rights and protect water for ecosystems, human needs, and future generations. Water markets will not be able to do that, and quite to the contrary, have, in Australia, created a situation where the public had to spend large amounts of money to buy back access to water.