The Provincial government is making a lot of investments into drought and flood protection.
Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz says they’ve put $3.5 million into several projects through the Watershed Resiliency and Restoration Program.
“That allows us to strengthen the natural capacity of Alberta’s watersheds to really reduce the intensity magnitude, the duration and the effects from both flooding and drought. We have dedicated more than $46.5 million since 2014 and this funding has helped restore, enhance and conserve over 5400 hectares of wetlands and riparian areas.”
Droughts have been a major concern for the province recently with a lower than normal snow pack in the mountains.
Schulz says some extensive work has happened around drought modelling to mitigate the risk of droughts.
“We sent a letter to municipalities in December and we posted that publicly making sure that municipalities are already preparing and looking at their water consumption, looking at ways that they can conserve water. Now we are starting to work on our 2024 drought emergency plan. The first draft has been completed and we’re refining that with all of our major partners.”
While a lot of attention has been put on Southern Alberta, Schulz says there are many areas in the North also seeing this type of drought.
The full interview we did with the Minister can be found below.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
