Choose a basin
Click the map or use the basin control.
What does this volume represent?
Alberta focused scale equivalents using municipal, agricultural, industrial, energy, and recreation reference points.
Alberta average municipal water use
—
residents/year
Based on Alberta average total per capita water use of 330 L/person/day.
Alberta households
—
households/year
Based on 2.6 people per household and Alberta average residential water use of 195 L/person/day (185.1 m³/household/year).
Alberta town and city equivalents
One year of the entered volume compared with annual municipal use in five Alberta communities.
2021 Census populations using the Alberta average of 330 L/person/day. These are comparison values, not measured community use.
Irrigation districts
—
acres
Hectares
—
Quarter sections
—
Share of district irrigated area
Based on average gross irrigation district diversion of 3,697.2 m³/ha/year and 1,485,387 irrigated acres in Alberta irrigation districts.
Cattle drinking water equivalent
—
head for one year
Alberta context
—
Based on 55 L/head/day. Alberta context compares the equivalent head count with Alberta's reported cattle and calf inventory of 5.135 million head.
Centre pivot irrigation scale
—
133 acre pivot area equivalents
Alberta context
—
Uses a 133 acre reference pivot area. Alberta context compares the irrigation district area equivalent with 1,380,543 pivot irrigated acres reported within Alberta irrigation districts in 2025; it is not a count of physical pivot machines.
Food processing — licence based production equivalents
Scale comparisons based on licensed water volumes, not measured use.
Refined sugar processing
—
tonnes equivalent
Beef processing
—
head equivalent
Malt production
—
tonnes equivalent
Yeast production
—
tonnes equivalent
Cheese production
—
tonnes equivalent
Licence based, not measured use
Medium confidence — cheese production reference
Thermal power plant — average licence based capacity equivalent
—
MW equivalent
Uses the arithmetic mean of the University of Calgary and University of Alberta licensed allocation per installed MW references: about 946,979 m³/MW. This is a contextual scale comparison, not a water efficiency benchmark.
Oil & gas production equivalent
Production scale equivalents based on AER 2024 water use intensities. Alberta production shares are shown only where the workbook supplies a directly comparable provincial production denominator.
Oil sands mining
—
BOE equivalent
2024 Alberta production—
In situ oil sands
—
BOE equivalent
2024 Alberta production—
Enhanced oil recovery
—
BOE equivalent
Hydraulic fracturing
—
BOE equivalent
Water use intensities: 2.32 bbl water/BOE for mining, 0.15 for in situ, 0.51 for enhanced oil recovery, and 0.65 for hydraulic fracturing. Mining and in situ shares annualize the workbook's 2024 Alberta average daily bitumen production values.
Reservoir storage reference
Oldman Reservoir
—
of storage
Gleniffer / Dickson
—
of storage
Bighorn Reservoir
—
of storage
Reference storage volumes: Oldman 495.1 million m³, Gleniffer/Dickson 203.1 million m³, and Bighorn 1.410 billion m³.
These are scale comparisons. Licensed volumes are not the same as measured water use.
Methods and sources
Every number this tool multiplies or divides by, with its source and confidence. This page is the audit trail, not a separate analytical result.
How to read this page: “Source value” rows are direct inputs taken from the working indicator workbook. “Derived” values are calculated from those inputs and are shown where they help explain the dashboard conversion. Where a source was not recorded in the workbook, that is stated explicitly rather than inferred.
Allocation dataset provenance
| Item | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Dataset | Alberta Water Act authorization allocations | Embedded in this file; drives the Allocations tab only |
| Source system | Alberta Environmental Regulatory Viewer (Water Act) | Authorization level licensed volumes |
| Basin geometry | Major River Basins GeoJSON supplied with this build | Source geometry is CRS84 longitude/latitude; rendered in EPSG:3400 (NAD83 / Alberta 10 TM (Forest)). Geometry is simplified to 1 km tolerance for compact inline SVG display. |
| Authorization records | — | Province wide view; basin view uses per basin apportioned records |
| Extract date | April 2026 | Embedded allocation dataset extract |
| Cross basin handling | Apportioned | A cross basin authorization contributes only its within basin portion when a basin is selected; the All Alberta view uses the full licensed volume once |
| Zero volume authorizations | Retained | Counted in the authorization count view; contribute 0 m³ to the volume view |
| Nature of the figures | Licensed allocation | These are licensed maximums, not metered or actual water use |
Default value on load
| Item | Value | Unit | Used for | Source / assumption |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenlight Electricity Centre — licensed water allocation | 538,000 | m³/year | Volume shown when the tool first loads; leading reference point | Verify Working figure for the combined cycle gas plant in Sturgeon County that will supply Meta’s Alberta data centre. Confirm the licence number and volume in the Environmental Regulatory Viewer before publication. |
| Greenlight generating capacity | 932 | MW | Context shown with the reference point | Pembina Pipeline Corporation, with Kineticor; announced to power Meta’s Alberta data centre |
| Scope of the allocation | Power plant only | — | Interpretation | The allocation belongs to the generating station. The data centre it serves is reported to use closed loop cooling, so its own on site water use is a separate and much smaller quantity. Do not read this figure as the data centre’s water consumption. |
| Licence based, not measured | — | — | Interpretation | As everywhere else in this tool, this is a licensed maximum rather than metered use |
People & Communities
| Reference | Value | Unit | Use in dashboard | Source / note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alberta average total per capita water use | 330 | L/person/day | Alberta average resident equivalent | ABmunis water conservation plan |
| Alberta average residential water use | 195 | L/person/day | Household equivalent | ABmunis water conservation plan |
| Average Alberta household size | 2.6 | people/household | Household equivalent | Statistics Canada, 2021 Census |
| Average Alberta household water use | 185.055 | m³/household/year | Household equivalent | Derived from 195 L/person/day × 2.6 people |
| Fort Macleod population | 3,297 | residents | Town equivalent; preset volume | Statistics Canada, 2021 Census |
| Taber population | 8,862 | residents | Town equivalent; preset volume | Statistics Canada, 2021 Census |
| Canmore population | 15,990 | residents | Town equivalent; preset volume | Statistics Canada, 2021 Census |
| Okotoks population | 30,405 | residents | Town equivalent; preset volume | Town of Okotoks, 2021 federal census |
| Red Deer population | 100,844 | residents | City equivalent; preset volume | Statistics Canada, 2021 Census |
| Town municipal use equivalent | population × 120.45 | m³/year | Town equivalent card and presets | Derived from the 330 L/person/day Alberta average; not each community’s measured use |
Agriculture & Land
| Reference | Value | Unit | Use in dashboard | Source / note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average gross irrigation district diversion, 2010–2025 | 3,697.20 | m³/ha | Irrigation district area equivalent | Alberta Irrigation Information 2025 |
| Total irrigation district irrigated area | 1,485,387 | acres | Share of total district irrigated area | 2025 irrigated acreage |
| Cattle drinking water reference | 55 | L/head/day | Cattle one year equivalent | Alberta Agriculture reference; workbook notes intake varies with animal size, temperature, diet and lactation |
| Centre pivot reference area | 133 | acres | Pivot area equivalent | Top Crop Manager; common 1,310 ft / 400 m pivot reference |
Food & Agricultural Processing
| Reference activity | Licensed volume | Production reference | Derived dashboard intensity | Confidence / note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Refined sugar processing | 3,392,060 m³/year | 125,000 t/year | 27.13648 m³/t | High Licence based, not actual consumption |
| Beef processing | 1,735,984 m³/year | 4,500 head/day | 1.056916 m³/head | High Licence based, not actual consumption |
| Malt production | 1,680,000 m³/year | 400,000 t/year | 4.2 m³/t | High Licence based, not actual consumption |
| Yeast production | 830,116 m³/year | 15,000 t/year | 55.34107 m³/t | High Licence based, not actual consumption |
| Cheese production | 205,006 m³/year | 8,000 t/year | 25.62575 m³/t | Medium Licence based, not actual consumption |
Industry & Power
| Reference | Licensed volume | Production / capacity | Derived dashboard intensity | Source / note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Calgary thermal power plant | 10,484,580 m³/year Licence DAUT0017493 | 13 MW | 806,506.15 m³/MW | Medium confidence on plant capacity basis |
| University of Alberta thermal power plant | 43,171,850 m³/year Licence DAUT0015392 | 39.7 MW | 1,087,452.14 m³/MW | Global Energy Observatory capacity reference |
| Average thermal power plant reference | — | — | 946,979.15 m³/MW | Arithmetic mean of the University of Calgary and University of Alberta reference intensities; used for the dashboard comparison. |
Oil & Gas Water Use Intensities
| Reference | Value | Unit | Use in dashboard | Source / note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oil sands mining | 2.32 | bbl water/BOE | Production scale equivalent | Alberta Energy Regulator water use performance |
| In situ oil sands | 0.15 | bbl water/BOE | Production scale equivalent | Alberta Energy Regulator water use performance |
| Enhanced oil recovery | 0.51 | bbl water/BOE | Production scale equivalent | Alberta Energy Regulator water use performance |
| Hydraulic fracturing | 0.65 | bbl water/BOE | First year production scale equivalent | Alberta Energy Regulator water use performance |
Alberta Context Denominators
| Indicator | Alberta reference total | Unit | Year / scope | Source / note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barley | 133,713 | acres | 2025 irrigation districts | Alberta Irrigation Information 2025; total reported crop acreage, including reported not irrigated acreage |
| Canola | 127,636 | acres | 2025 irrigation districts | Alberta Irrigation Information 2025 |
| Corn (silage) | 105,465 | acres | 2025 irrigation districts | Alberta Irrigation Information 2025 |
| Potato | 67,791 | acres | 2025 irrigation districts | Alberta Irrigation Information 2025 |
| Sugar beet | 23,438 | acres | 2025 irrigation districts | Alberta Irrigation Information 2025 |
| Alberta cattle and calves | 5,135,000 | head | Provincial inventory | Statistics Canada |
| Pivot irrigated area | 1,380,543 | acres | 2025 irrigation districts | Alberta Irrigation Information 2025; irrigation district land only, not private irrigation |
| Mined bitumen production | 1,720,500 | bbl/day | 2024 Alberta average | AER |
| In situ bitumen production | 1,837,300 | bbl/day | 2024 Alberta average | AER |
| Natural gas production | 315,700,000 | m³/day | 2024 Alberta average | AER; retained as a source value but not currently used in a dashboard percentage because no directly comparable natural gas water intensity indicator is supplied |
Reservoirs & Recreation
| Reference | Value | Unit | Use in dashboard | Source / note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oldman Reservoir | 495,060,000 | m³ | Share of reservoir storage | Alberta Irrigation Information 2025 |
| Gleniffer / Dickson Reservoir | 203,100,000 | m³ | Share of reservoir storage | Alberta reservoir storage reference |
| Bighorn Reservoir | 1,409,900,000 | m³ | Share of reservoir storage | Alberta reservoir storage reference |
| Megalitre conversion | 1,000 | m³/ML | Unit toggle | Exact definitional conversion |
| Acre foot conversion | 1,233.48183754752 | m³/acre ft | Unit toggle | Exact definitional conversion |