Alberta Water Council - Memorandum of Results Drought Simulation Exercise Final Report

Progress of the drought stages through the exercise For the purpose of the exercise, participants needed to understand what role they were playing in the system of drought management. [...] The “chair” of the Intrabasin Water Coordinating Committee (IWCC) relayed the ultimate decision made by the AEP Minister regarding the drought stage for each sub-basin based on the advice of the participants. [...] The participants were attentive to the reservoir levels in the Oldman Reservoir in particular because of the instream flow needs downstream, the need to meet apportionment, and for downstream municipal demand including the City of Medicine Hat. [...] The Oldman River sub-basin discussed the possibility of releasing lower-than-required flow volumes from the Oldman Reservoir through winter to mitigate the impacts of drought to users and to the river in the spring/summer, especially before the snowpack melts. [...] In the winter of the first drought year, the Oldman River group noted that they had concerns about being able to meet apportionment from the Oldman River in the following year due to the level of the Oldman Reservoir.