Value of Irrigation Water for Drought Proofing in the South Saskatchewan River Basin (Alberta)

Typically, the value of irrigation water is recognized for enhancing producer income and reducing rural poverty through its primary use-crop production. However, in this study an additional benefit to producers from irrigation is explored-reducing variability in firm income due to extreme weather events (droughts). This benefit is estimated for the Alberta portion of the South Saskatchewan River Basin (SSRB). Benefits from irrigation during a drought year were measured as the difference between producer surpluses from irrigated and dryland production systems, in a drought Year, excluding the value of water for irrigated crop production in a non-drought year. This value was expressed per unit of water applied to irrigation. Short-run value estimates ranged from $37 per dam(3) in the Bow River sub-basin, to about $42 per dam(3) in the Oldman River sub-basin. These results suggest that water used for irrigation provides additional benefits beyond enhanced producer income in crop production. Thus, it is an effective drought mitigation strategy; and provides a successful adaptation to occurrence of extreme events (droughts) under climate change.