Adaptive Water Resource Planning in the South Saskatchewan River Basin: Use of Scenarios of Hydroclimatic Variability and Extremes

• Published in: Journal of the American Water Resources Association Vol. 52; no. 1; pp. 222 - 240
• Main Authors: Sauchyn, David J., St-Jacques, Jeannine-Marie, Barrow, Elaine, Nemeth, Michael W., MacDonald, Ryan J., Sheer, A. Michael S., Sheer, Daniel P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Middleburg Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.02.2016
• Subjects: Adaptation; Atmospheric models; Climate; climate change resilience; climate oscillations; Computer simulation; Consultancies; Consultants; drought; Environmental changes; Freshwater; Global climate models; Hydrologic models; Hydrology; Infrastructure; Irrigation districts; low flows; low-frequency hydroclimatic variability; Marine; mass-balance modeling; mass‐balance modeling; projected streamflows; Mathematical models; Modelling; Municipalities; Oases; Ocean models; Oldman and South Saskatchewan Rivers; Oscillations; Policies; projected streamflows; Regression analysis; Risk management; River basins; Rivers; stakeholder participation; Statistical analysis; statistical downscaling; Storage; Strategy; Stream discharge; Stream flow; Temperature (air-sea); water allocation; water policy; Water resources; Water runoff; Water shortages; Water supply; Watersheds; Saskatchewan River; Canada, Saskatchewan, South Saskatchewan R
• ISSN: 1093-474X; 1752-1688
• DOI: 10.1111/1752-1688.12378

The South Saskatchewan River Basin is one of Canada's most threatened watersheds, with water supplies in most subbasins over‐allocated. In 2013, stakeholders representing irrigation districts, the environment, and municipalities collaborated with researchers and consultants to explore opportunities to improve the resiliency of the management of the Oldman and South Saskatchewan River subbasins. Streamflow scenarios for 2025‐2054 were constructed by the novel approach of regressing historical river flows against indices of large‐scale ocean‐atmosphere climate oscillations to derive statistical streamflow models, which were then run using projected climate indices from global climate models. The impacts of some of the most extreme scenarios were simulated using the hydrologic mass‐balance model Operational Analysis and Simulation of Integrated Systems (OASIS). Based on stakeholder observations, the project participants proposed and evaluated potential risk management and adaption strategies, e.g., modifying existing infrastructure, building new infrastructure, changing operations to supplement environmental flows, reducing demand, and sharing supply. The OASIS model was applied interactively at live modeling sessions with stakeholders to explore practical adaptation strategies. Our results, which serve as recommendations for policy makers, showed that forecast‐based rationing together with new expanded storage could dramatically reduce water shortages.