WATER TRANSFERS — CANADIAN STYLE

A descriptive overview is presented of water transfers existing and under construction in Canada. The ease of connecting proximate watercourses is attributed to recent glacial history. Criteria for establishing a national inventory of water transfers are identified.Tentative findings focus on the number, location, size, use, operational date and ownership of transfer projects across the country; the largest transfers are highlighted. It is believed that Canadian water transfer is of a scale and character unknown in any other country.Alberta’s interest in southward diversion to favor consumptive uses in the province is portrayed as an exception to the hydro-dominated national transfer pattern and as a source of concern to downstream jurisdictions.