Water For Okanagan Wineries, Golf Courses Diminishing

"Globally, agriculture uses approximately 70 per cent of all freshwater resources. Urban use is relatively small but is growing rapidly," said Hans Schreier, a professor with the Institute for Resources and Environment at the University of British Columbia, in a recent address to a Water, Agriculture and Environment conference in Lethbridge.

For example, it takes between 15,000 to 70,000 kilograms of water, depending on various factors, to produce just one kilogram of beef, Schreier noted. Irrigation agriculture produces half the world's food supply, with some countries relying on irrigation for 80 to 90 per cent of crop production.

"Most groundwater resources are being challenged," says Schreier.

In a presentation entitled "Agriculture's Water Footprint and Environmental Health," he said that society's models for calculating water usage are outdated, because in fact there are three 'kinds' of water. "Blue water," which includes rainfall, rivers, lakes and groundwater, is "what we manage. Almost everything we do is blue water."

"Green water" is utilized by plants, creates biomass and "evapo-transpires." "There's twice as much water cycling in that (green water) cycle as in the blue cycle and we don't pay much attention to it except maybe in irrigation . . . That's where we have a lot of capacity to improve," Schreier said.

Finally, there is "virtual water," which is the huge amount of water used in transitional food stages in producing a product - turning grapes into wine, for example. Society has mostly ignored this virtual water use, but "we have to start paying attention to that."

In B.C.'s Okanagan, Canada's driest watershed, the population increased to 317,000 in 2001 compared with 115,000 in 1971 - a jump of about 175 per cent. The number of golf courses rose 600 per cent. Wineries increased 580 percent. "Everything we do in this watershed is water intensive," Schreier said.

The Okanagan is one of the few areas in Canada where grapes and fruit can be grown, but most of the irrigated water is being used to grow grass, "followed by apples and alfalfa . . . this is not growing water in a green context," he said. "Why not start looking at green water management and look at what is the best crop in the climactic conditions to give the best added value?"

Greenhouses currently have the highest water use per hectare in the Okanagan, followed by "turf" and golf courses, Schreier said. Based on water use figures, one Osoyoos area golf course is 21 per cent over-irrigated, while another Kelowna area course is 40 per cent over-irrigated, he noted.

Schreier maintains that water conservation and "water harvesting" strategies are needed.

Editor's Note:
For the full text of this report go directly to: Industry Must Plan Now For Climate Change Impacts, Water Shortages, Experts Say, Published by: Mark Lowey

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