Summary of the 2022 International Institute for Sustainable Development Canadian Prairie Water Retention Monitoring and Modelling Workshop

The document details findings from various water retention sites in the Canadian Prairies, highlighting the effectiveness of small dams and ponds in reducing peak flow and phosphorus. It emphasizes the need for better monitoring, the potential for nutrient reduction optimization, and the challenges of producer adoption due to land devaluation perceptions.

• Small dams in the South Tobacco Creek Watershed, constructed between 1985 and 1995, successfully reduced peak flow and extended the flow period, though their ability to remove nutrients and sediment was less consistent and depended on reservoir depth and runoff timing.
• A 0.79 ha retention pond ('LB' pond) monitored from 2016 to 2019 showed significant average reductions: approximately 65% for water quantity, 80% for total dissolved phosphorus (TDP), 78% for total phosphorus (TP), and 82% for total suspended solids (TSS).
• Research indicates that drained wetlands in the Prairies facilitate the export of total phosphorus (TP) downstream, whereas intact and restored wetlands retain TP on the landscape. For example, intact wetland basins near Rapid City showed an average TP retention of 3.28 kg/ha/year over two years.
• The De Salaberry water retention site achieved an approximate 40% to 50% reduction in peak discharge for 10 to 100-year 24-hour storm events and retained 237 kg of phosphorus in 2019 and 98 kg in 2020.
• Agricultural producers show low interest in converting land for water retention, even marginal land, due to the difficulty of using large modern equipment around these areas and the perception that standing water reduces land value.
• There is a critical need for higher frequency and quality water monitoring data, including measurements of reactive nutrient forms and salinity, to better optimize water retention sites for both flood and nutrient reduction.

APA

International Institute for Sustainable Development (2022). Summary of the 2022 International Institute for Sustainable Development Canadian Prairie Water Retention Monitoring and Modelling Workshop. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2022-11/canadian-prairie-water-retention-workshop.pdf

Chicago

International Institute for Sustainable Development. Summary of the 2022 International Institute for Sustainable Development Canadian Prairie Water Retention Monitoring and Modelling Workshop. 2022. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2022-11/canadian-prairie-water-retention-workshop.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=International Institute for Sustainable Development |title=Summary of the 2022 International Institute for Sustainable Development Canadian Prairie Water Retention Monitoring and Modelling Workshop |date=November 2022 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2022-11/canadian-prairie-water-retention-workshop.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{internationalinstituteforsustainabledevelopment2022summary, author = {{International Institute for Sustainable Development}}, title = {{Summary of the 2022 International Institute for Sustainable Development Canadian Prairie Water Retention Monitoring and Modelling Workshop}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2022}, month = nov, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2022-11/canadian-prairie-water-retention-workshop.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }