Water Stewardship Information Sources
| Citation | van der Gulik, T, Neilsen, D, Fretwell, R and Tam, S. 2013. Agriculture Water Demand Model: Report for Cowichan Valley Regional District. Prepared for Cowichan Valley Regional District. |
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| Organization | Cowichan Valley Regional District |
| URL | http://cowichanwatershedboard.ca/sites/default/files/Agriculture_Water_Demand_Model-Cowichan_Report_Agriculture_Canada-Jun2013.pdf |
| Abstract/Description or Keywords | The Agriculture Water Demand Model (AWDM) was originally developed in the Okanagan Watershed. It was developed in response to rapid population growth, drought conditions from climate change, and the overall increased demand for water. Many of the watersheds in British Columbia (BC) are fully allocated or will be in the next 15 to 20 years. The AWDM helps to understand current agricultural water use and helps to fulfil the Province’s commitment under the “Living Water Smart – BC Water Plan” to reserve water for agricultural lands. The Model can be used to establish agricultural water reserves throughout the various watersheds in BC by providing current and future agriculture water use data. Climate change scenarios developed by the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the Pacific AgriFood Research Centre (PARC) in Summerland predict an increase in agricultural water demand due to warmer and longer summers and lower precipitation during summer months in the future. The Agriculture Water Demand Model was developed to provide current and future agricultural water demands. The Model calculates water use on a property-by-property basis, and sums each property to obtain a total water demand for the entire basin or each sub-basin. Crop, irrigation system type, soil texture and climate data are used to calculate the water demand. Climate data from 2003 was used to present information on one of the hottest and driest years on record and 1997 data was used to represent a wet year. Lands within the Agriculture Land Reserve (ALR), depicted in green in Figure 1 were included in the project. |
| Information Type | report |
| Regional Watershed | Vancouver Island South |
| Sub-watershed if known | Cowichan |
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| Contact Name | Ted van der Gulik |
| Contact Email | [email protected] |