Water Stewardship Information Sources

ID 1874
Citation van der Gulik, T, Neilsen, D, Fretwell, R, Petersen, A and Tam, S. 2013. Agricultural Water Demand Model: Report for the Bonaparte Watershed. BC Ministry of Agriculture and Agriculture Canada.
Organization Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
URL http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/resmgmt/publist/500Series/500300-12_Agric_Water_Demand_Model-Bonaparte_Report.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 モLiving Water Smart - BC Water
Planヤ 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. water supply, irrigation, low flow, environmental flow needs
Information Type report
Regional Watershed Thompson
Sub-watershed if known Bonaparte River
Aquifer #
Comments
Project status complete
Contact Name
Contact Email