Background

Managing and protecting the water quality, aquatic environment and water quantity within watersheds is a complex task. Land development and land use changes add to this complexity. The Elbow River watershed has reached a point where negative impacts on the water resource may result in unacceptable deterioration.

There are many processes that can be used to manage water resources and protect these resources from negative impacts. All approaches to managing the water resources rely upon local involvement (munici-palities, industry and interested public) working together with the assistance of other levels of government. There is a focus on resolving issues and on restoring or maintaining watershed health. The Elbow River watershed would benefit from employing an approach that is locally driven, given that:

• Land development is occurring at a rapid pace, which can degrade and marginalize the integrity of the Elbow River as a sustainable ecosystem.
• Water quantity and quality can be negatively affected by extensive hard surfacing of the watershed.
• Both point and non-point contamination sources can affect the quality of the Elbow River, a drinking water source for the City of Calgary providing water to 1 in 6 Albertans.