Freedom of Information request results from Alberta Government Public Engagement: Water Availability

October 22, 2025

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• Wildwater

On May 2, 2025, AWA submitted a request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP), requesting the results and analysis from Phase 1 of the Government’s Water Availability Engagement (WAE) be made public.

As emphasized in our request and subsequent correspondence with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta and the Ministry of Environment and Protected Areas, the requested data and records do not just concern a matter of public interest; they are the direct outcome of public interest in surface water availability and management in the province.

The information requested would not exist if members of the public, including academics, agricultural organizations, environmental groups, Indigenous Nations, non-profits, lawyers, scientists, other key water users, and industries, had not participated in the engagement activities hosted by Environment and Protected Areas between November 5, 2024, to January 24, 2025.

The FOIP results were released to AWA on October 22, 2025. Due to the file size of the information requested, it has been split into sections below for easier loading and downloading:

• Disclosure letter from EPA re: release of the FOIP documents 
• Early EPA impressions, engagement participation, and demographics (pg. 1-386)
• Summary of the WAE Simple Survey results (pg. 387-750)
• Summary of the WAE Detailed Survey results pt. 1 (pg. 751-1051)
• Summary of the WAE Detailed Survey results pt. 2 (pg. 1052-1366)
• Midpoint EPA feedback summary, review, correspondence (pg. 1367-1720)
• Codification key for the simple survey (pg. 1721 – 2090)
• Codification key for the detailed survey pt. 1 (pg. 2091 – 2428)
• Codification key for the detailed survey pt. 2 (pg. 2429 – 2740)
• Final EPA feedback analysis (pg. 2741 -2779)

Specific themes that emerged from the feedback, as summarized by the government, include:

• Alternative Water Sources: Reuse
• Conservation, Efficiency, and Productivity
• Environmental Flows
• Exemptions for Water Authorizations
• Groundwater
• Interbasin Transfers
• Monitoring and Reporting
• Rainwater
• Storage
• Stormwater
• Water Fees and Pricing
• Water Governance
• Wetlands and Drainage

Themes where further analysis was completed by the government included:

• Alternative Water Sources
• Requirement to hold plebiscite for transfers from Irrigation Districts
• Standardized Water Use Measuring and Reporting
• Water Licence Transfers and Conservation Holdbacks
• Wetlands, Wetland Policies, and Drainage