When water is allocated through the licensing process, the applicant must identify and justify the source (from surface or groundwater), and specify the purpose for which the water will be used. Based on this data, we get an idea of what the main uses of water are likely to be within the province.

This chart provides data up to the end of 2005 indicating the amounts of water allocated for the categories specified. Ninety-seven percent of all water that is allocated is from surface water sources (shown in blue) therefore, the groundwater portion (in coral color) appears very small.

Although surface water makes up the majority of water supplies for Albertans, it's interesting to note how groundwater and surface water are used differently. The largest potential uses for surface water are irrigation, power plant cooling, and municipal water supply. The breakdown showing the proportion of surface water use is given in this pie chart.

The largest potential uses for groundwater are for oil and gas (processing and enhanced oil recovery), agricultural use (non-irrigation), and municipal water supply. The breakdown is shown here. In fact, the single biggest use of groundwater in Alberta is probably rural domestic (household) water supply; however since this type of water use is not licensed, they are not accounted for in these totals.

The values here represent the gross allocations for each category. These figures do not represent the actual water usage. The majority of these allocations do not consume their full allocation and some will have return flows or do not use their entire allocation in all years. Therefore, these figures represent only an approximation of who the relative users of water in Alberta might be. The difference between total allocation and actual use is explained on the Allocation vs. Consumption page.