Front Burner - How did a Mormon town grab first dibs on Alberta water?

Episode Date: May 28, 2024

As Alberta struggles to navigate several years of dry conditions in the province, its historic water license system has come under scrutiny. In short, whoever got water rights first has first dibs on the water today.One of the small towns that really benefits from this system is Magrath, established in 1899 by Mormon settlers from Utah and Idaho. But its senior water rights are becoming more contentious as other communities are forced to buy water amid an increasingly taxed supply.We hear from CBC Calgary reporter Joel Dryden, who visited the town and tells us what the water rights debate is like today and whether any changes to those rights are on the table.Help us make Front Burner even better by filling out our audience survey.

In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. This is a CBC Podcast. Hi, I'm Elaine Chao, in for Jamie Poisson. Three, four. In for Jamie Poisson. About a dozen choir members are gathered in a semicircle around a grand piano, rehearsing for a musical called Diggers. It's about a small town in southern Alberta called McGrath,

founded in 1899 by settlers sent by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Utah and Idaho. Those settlers were also responsible for the town's irrigation projects, which are some of the oldest in the province and something that community members are really proud of. I mean, they're singing about it. singing about it. The town's identity and history is really built on this idea of transforming a very dry part of Alberta through irrigation into a land that you can grow things on. As a result of this history, the people from McGrath, many of whom today are descendants of those early Mormon settlers, have a huge advantage when it comes to how water is managed. Whoever got water rights first in Alberta over a century ago also has first dibs on the area's water today. In times of plenty,

there probably wouldn't be much debate about all this, but Albertans have been living through a period of several dry years. It's the worst hydrological drought in Alberta's history. The stream flows coming on the major rivers coming out of the mountains hit the lowest levels ever recorded in 2023. Last summer, more than a dozen counties across the province declared agricultural disasters. That alone has big implications on the economy, but there are also so many other industries that rely on water. So in times of drought, these senior water rights that communities like McGrath hold can be a pretty contentious thing.

CBC Calgary reporter Joel Dryden just went to McGrath. He's back on the show to tell us about the town, the water rights it holds, and what that tells us about how drought is changing Alberta's economy. Hey, Joel, welcome back to FrontBurner. Hey, Elaine. Thanks for having me. Okay, so we heard a little bit of the musical there. You've got to tell me a bit more about this. So one of the stories that the musical is about is really the founder of McGrath, Levi Harker. And I actually understand that a lot of the people who are involved in this are his descendants. And tell me a little bit more about like who was Levi Harker? and year from Utah, who went on to become McGrath's first bishop, and he was the town's mayor for two terms. You can actually look at the official website for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There's an excerpt on there from the Lethbridge Herald from 1939, which was the year that Harker died, and the excerpt reads that, quote, no man who ever lived in McGrath was more deeply mourned than that of Bishop Levi Harker, father of McGrath.

So needless to say, he has quite an impact on this community. And you actually talked to Brooke Harker, like a relative of Levi Harker's. And what did he tell you about kind of how this town came to be? Right. Yeah, well, I met him in the McGrath Museum. And you go in there, it's just covered in these photos of these early Mormon settlers. And Brooke kind of took us through, he explained everything. He pointed out, for instance, you know, an old store that burnt down in a fire, or a photo of the baseball team that was really popular for a time in the community. The town was actually founded by Mormon settlers recruited from Utah and Idaho.

It started off as dry, barren land. And Brooke told us this famous story in the Mormon church in Canada involving Levi. He comes over a hillside. He sees this vision of the modern day McGrath. It's actually one of the songs we heard in the musical. And, you know, in Brooksview, what's important for people to realize about McGrath is that the town of McGrath was established by people who believed in God. And they believed that areas that were dry could be made to blossom as a rose.

And so they came into this area not because they wanted to, but because they thought they ought to. And in terms of the people who live there today, are they mostly members of the Mormon church as well? You know, there's a lot of relatives of these early settlers who still live in the community. Brooke said that the people who largely choose to come and live in McGrath are related to the people of the past, but whether they're practicing Mormons is another thing. Right, right, right. And you talk to a lot of people who live there.

You spend a couple of days there, and it's clear from just what you described that this history and this vision from Levi Harker, that really plays a big part in this town's identity, right? This idea of it being a town that couldn't have existed without irrigation. And I actually recall like the town sign, right, Joel? Like there's a crest there and there's like actually an image of an irrigation project on it. Yeah, yeah. And it has a date kind of affixed to it, 1899,

which is the date of the first water license held by the irrigation district, the McGrath Irrigation District. So really, I think what that communicated to me when you're driving in is like, that's how important this is, right? That's the first thing they want you to know when you drive into McGrath is about this historic water license. And everybody we talked to, many of them really credit Southern Alberta's success economically to the history. We spoke to Dennis Strong, who actually plays Levi Harker in the musical that we've mentioned, loves talking about the history. He said, you know, there's some years that you would get a crop and then there will be many other years. You'd see the grasshoppers eat them all. And so without water, with the water that was brought by those early pioneers that were willing to dig and dig and dig just so that they can then have a place to live and a place to try to make a life, it would have been virtually impossible without that water. Right, and that basically,

without what the Mormon settlers contributed, there wouldn't be a town today. Yeah, I mean, you know, McGrath is, well, it's southeast of Lethbridge, and it's part of, it's called Palliser's Triangle. You know, at one point, people had described it as, you know, useless desert. In 1857, Captain John Palliser of the Royal Engineers wrote in his journal,

The South Saskatchewan flows through a region of arid plains devoid of timber or pasture of good quality. The sage and cactus abound, and the whole of the scanty vegetation bespeaks an arid climate. It's a large area. It runs across southeast Alberta, southern Saskatchewan, southwest Manitoba. It's semi-arid. And really, it was never expected that anything would grow there. And so you go back to the 1890s. These Mormon settlers, they were known for irrigation. You go back to the 1890s, these Mormon settlers, they were known for irrigation. They came up from Utah, Idaho, to this land where the prospects for agriculture were not encouraging.

And they were given cash and land in exchange for establishing what were the first major irrigation projects in the country. I mean, we've spent some time talking about the community of McGrath's, like their beliefs and their history. But all of this history has a practical significance to this day. They hold quite a bit of sway in the way that water is used in southern Alberta, and that's because it owns some very senior water licenses or water rights. So I remember you talked about this a bit when we had you on the show a few months ago. And can you remind us of just the basics of how those work? So if you want to use water in significant quantities in Alberta, you need a water license. The system that those fall under trace back to 1894, and it's called first in time, first in writing. Basically, it means if you received water first, then you have first claim to water today in Alberta. It's not too different from how other resource rates work in the province.

It's this first-come, first-served kind of basis. Mining claims also work like that. But the McGrath Irrigation District, it actually has, as I said, one of the most senior water licenses in the province. That one dates back to 1899. And so kind of in practice, that means they have first claims to Alberta's water compared to someone who, say, received a license in 1999. Right, right, right. And I should note here, and you touched on this a little bit last time that we spoke to you, that when kind of this licensing system was put together of essentially first come first serve, as you described, system was put together of essentially first come first serve, as you describe,

this did not include Indigenous communities in the province, right? That is correct. In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. Hi, it's Ramit Sethi here. You may have seen my money show on Netflix. I've been talking about money for 20 years. I've talked to millions of people and I have some startling numbers to share with you. Did you know that of the people I speak to,

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That really is the advantage. In the south of Alberta, you know, water is in really high demand. And actually most of the water in Alberta's south has been closed to new allocations since 2006. And in effect, it actually created a water market where you can buy and sell water rights. So when you sum it up, you know, seniority is essentially it's the power to know that you're secure in your water when everyone else falls well down the line from you and doesn't have that security. Right. And would not have to resort to, and we'll talk about this a little bit more, to the

water market, for example. Yeah, exactly. I mean, like you say, not a big deal when there's a lot of water, but in the South, when there are drought conditions, it becomes a really kind of urgent concern. Um, people worry that if we saw an extended drought scenario over the longterm in Alberta, you could leave communities with senior licenses with water and those with junior licenses without, um, you could take a potato farmer, right? Um, one of the classic examples that everyone always uses is there's a massive lamb weston potato processing plant in Tabor, but it actually has a relatively

junior water license. So if that got cut off, obviously that's counterintuitive for perhaps farmers who have more senior water licenses who are growing potatoes. It doesn't really make sense. Right. And I'm guessing those potato farmers aren't too happy about that possibility. Right. And that's why recently in Alberta, we underwent this process of what were called water sharing negotiations. And the big question was, well, why, if people have senior licenses, why are they willingly going to share their water when they don't have to? It's for reasons like we outlined with Lam Weston. The whole system is kind of predicated on top of each other. You talked a little bit about the water market before.

It seems quite astonishing to me and probably to most of our listeners, the very idea of a water market because we think of water as a commodity and a resource that is available to us. And how much buying and selling is there going on right now? It's been relatively contained to this point. But since 2006, there have been about that everyone points to involves the Cross Iron Mills Mega Mall, which is located near Balzac. That's, you know, it was a big deal. It involved an irrigation district agreeing to sell a portion of its water rights for $15 million. That's a lot of money. Yeah.

Is it my understanding that like there is also kind of not a whole lot of transparency in these processes? The big issue that people speak about when it comes to the water market is that the prices are not publicly announced. So, you know, the director under the Water Act does have to advertise when a deal is taking place, about the kind of advantage that senior water licensees have, like, especially in times of possible drought? Yeah, I think you hit on kind of the crux of the issue here. You know, for years, there have been communities in Alberta that have been looking to grow but haven't been able to. That includes the community of Okotoks, which actually had to slow growth years ago because they couldn't access enough water.

And since then, they have been purchasing water licenses in order to grow. And the mayor of that community, Tanya Thorne, she says, you know, there's a lot of ways that you can describe what's been happening. But the one she always mentions is that water is for fighting and whiskey is for drinking, right? That's the old saying. And it'll be really interesting. I think, you know, multi-year drought is going to be an impact for us. If there's multiple years that we're in this exact same situation, it will get competitive. And I think there might be some different conversations. Right. And what do you think she means by that?

It's a phrase that has a long history, but essentially there's plenty of whiskey to go around, but water is in high demand. And can be expensive to access. Right. So you talked to a lot of experts in water law, kind of about everything that's going on. And I'm curious as to kind of what they had to say about whether, you know, we're likely to see a change with kind of the water rights system that's in existence right now, given kind of all that we just talked about. Towns that are dependent on buying water, the possibility of drought. Yeah, I don't know how likely it is. I spoke to David Percy, who was a member of the drafting committee of Alberta's Water Act. He's at the University of Alberta. He said, you know, the system obviously has its flaws, but it's difficult to imagine another system which would work better. He said it's in everyone's best interest to keep the system functioning properly.

And the provincial government does actually have an emergency clause that they could invoke to force people to give up their water. But you can imagine, you know, that would be hugely controversial. Right. The first time a provincial official goes to a significant water user and says, we are cutting you off because we think somebody else's use is more important than yours. It's going to be a battle royal. You know, why is it that he would say that? Like, why could this be a politically challenging thing? a politically challenging thing. Yeah, I mean, there's a balance here, I think, because politically, you have to ensure no water user goes without while ensuring that you're sensitive to the cultural and historic backgrounds of the communities that received licenses first,

like McGrath. But I think more broadly, it poses some big questions about how Alberta grows. If you haven't secured your water future like Okotoks, you're going to be paying for it because that's the way that the system is set up. But conversely, it might also make you think twice about whether growing so much is such a good idea in the first place. There might be some serious limitations to growth here. Exactly. As we kind of wrap up the conversation, Joel, I want to come back to McGrath and the people there. And this is a place where their rights to water is such like a part of the fabric of their community. It's such a part of their history.

And I wonder, like, how, you know, what do they think about all of the debate that's happening around water rights? You know, broadly speaking, I say that I would say that they say that they're willing to share. You know, I spoke to Brooke Harker, the relative of Levi Harker, and he said, you know, he knows that the province is changing. He knows that there are others in the area who have ideas about how the water supply should be used. And he knows that sometimes that causes a conflict because their first call was for irrigation. But again, if we didn't have them, we wouldn't have the water in that area.

So we try, I'm sure there's an ongoing struggle to maintain what's deemed a reasonable balance in the process. And there's no question, you know, the people in McGrath have a deep pride when it comes to the history of the area. So it's going to be, I think it's going be an ongoing struggle to to maintain what is a reasonable balance. I can help but think about kind of that vision that you talked about at the very beginning of this conversation, that when Mormon settlers, you know, first arrived to McGrath, you know, there was this idea of like turning this dry land into a place that's flowing with water and growth. And it's kind of hard to imagine that kind of vision being relevant in 2024, right? Like when there's a really dry reality for farmers in southern Alberta. And I'm wondering kind of what bigger questions. I know that you've been kind of working on stories related to drought for a long time now. I wonder what kinds of questions kind of this story

about McGrath and its water rights, what kinds of questions does it raise about the future of water rights more widely and just the way that Albertans see their own future, you know? You know, I think what was true in 1900 isn't necessarily the reality in 2024. And, you know, I think the future, like it's obvious, we're going to have wet years, we're going to have dry years. But the landscape isn't going to look the same. It always did. which stretches back to a time before Alberta was even a province. We're going to find out, you know, pretty quick in an extended drought period if it's equipped to handle, I think, what are really new demands.

And McGrath, I think, kind of is emblematic of this kind of conflict, you know, that's emerging between kind of old Alberta and new Alberta. It's not about McGrath specifically, but it's about its long-held rights that are often viewed as birthrights that can jut up kind of against the modern desires of growth. And I think the big question that Alberta is going to have to answer is, are those two things compatible? Okay, thank you, Joel.

I anticipate that it may not be the last time that we talk about this. Really appreciate your insight and your reporting here. Thank you so much for having me. Special thanks to Carla Turner for her help on this episode. I'm Elaine Chao. Thanks for listening to Frontburner. For more CBC Podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.