Program Co-ordinators: Richard Turcotte, Jean-François Cyr

Context

Water: a vital resource for Quebec society

• Quebec contains about 3% of the world’s renewable fresh water.
• These water resources are essential for Quebec’s economic, social and environmental well-being.
• Their use from a sustainable development perspective is in everyone’s interest.

Water: using and developing it in balance with the climate

• The use and development of water resources are linked to the amount of water available and fluctuations in current water and climate regimes.
• For water resources to be used properly, there must be a form of balance between the current climate on the one hand, and regulatory measures and the design and operation of the many infrastructures associated with water, on the other.

The impact of climate change on water: increased stress

Disturbances to the water regime are expected:

• Increase in summer and fall flooding
• Changes in flooding from snowmelt
• More severe and longer-lasting summer low-water periods
• Average annual water quantities harder to determine

Consequently, projections suggest probable changes in:

• quantities of water
• fluctuations in water supply in comparison with current conditions
• water quality, caused by higher temperatures and lower flows
• beneficial dilution of contaminants caused by more severe low-water periods
• shoreline erosion (faster rate)
• predictability of flooding.

Adaptation strategies for sustainable water use and development: a necessity

The parameters of the water regime that were used in drawing up regulations and designing and planning infrastructure use may well change.

This may call for adaptation measures in:

• the use and upgrading of existing infrastructures and the introduction of new infrastructures, where they are affected by water.
• regulations governing the security of water supplies or the protection of aquatic ecosystems, for example.

Land use could also be altered as a direct result of climate change or through the attendant adaptation measures.

Identification of adaptation issues and measures: a necessary discussion

There are many and often conflicting issues involved in water use.

Consequently, any decision concerning water management must be part of a process involving the users concerned.

Main topics:

• hydrology and hydraulics
• hydrogeology
• water quality and ecology
• water demand, use and management
• water governance (governments, integrated watershed management)

Objectives

• Quantify the impacts of climate change on water resources and assess the associated uncertainty.
• Assess the impacts of climate change on the different uses of water resources.
• Identify and assess adaptation options for the many uses of water, from water withdrawal and water supply to shipping, recreational activities, flood control, systems supported by watercourses and energy generation, with case studies.
• Identify, develop, implement and apply the most appropriate modelling tools to reach the above objectives.
• Establish procedures for discussing and validating the identification of the main issues, development of tools and adaptation options.

Research projects

• Fluctuation in water supply (Rivière des Outaouais)
• Sedimentology of tributaries – Phase II
• Adaptation to changes in water levels
• Fluctuations in the water table, high- and low-water levels (Châteauguay)
• Groundwater recharge
• Ecosystems and agricultural pollution
• Development of a climate generator and its use to examine the effect of climate change on extreme floods
• Adaptation of Haut-Saint-François dam management plans to climate change