Transboundary Water Agreement Implementation

The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) is working in collaboration with neighbouring jurisdictions to make sure the commitments of the completed transboundary water management agreements are met. This page describes key implementation activities to meet the commitments of the agreements. Some activities benefit implementation of more than one agreement; whereas some activities are specific to one agreement.

Multi-jurisdictional Implementation Activities

Groundwater

There is limited knowledge about the quality, quantity and location of groundwater near NWT borders in the Mackenzie River Basin. To understand gaps in knowledge, a report was completed to describe what is known about groundwater resources, uses and monitoring, along with potential impacts to groundwater. The report will support development of Groundwater Learning Plans. Development of these plans is a commitment in NWT transboundary water management agreements with Alberta and British Columbia, for areas where there are moderate levels of existing or proposed development and/or areas considered vulnerable.

 

Alberta-NWT Transboundary Agreement Implementation Activities

Inaugural Year 2015-2016

The Alberta-NWT Mackenzie River Basin Bilateral Water Management Agreement was signed March 18, 2015. The Implementation Highlights report , released in March 2017, focuses on implementation activities during the inaugural year.

In November 2017, the bilateral committee responsible for implementing the Agreement released Working Together to Manage Our Shared Waters, its first annual report (along with the executive summaries in English and French).

Hay River Basin State of Aquatic Knowledge Report

This State of Aquatic Knowledge for the Hay River Basin report summarizes information about the basin setting, aquatic environment (groundwater, surface water flows, water quality, and organisms that depend on the river), trends over time, and current and future human activities that could affect basin and river health. The data gathered reflects the level of information that was accessed through literature searches and various government databases of current human activities. To support long-term management of the Hay River Basin, knowledge and data gaps are identified and recommendations are made for future monitoring programs, strategies, objectives, and additional database or file searches.