Southern Alberta Banner

Resources

Lifestyle Calculator:

How much land area does it take to support your lifestyle? Take this quiz to find out your Ecological Footprint, discover your biggest areas of resource consumption, and learn what you can do to tread more lightly on the earth.

Energy Savings

The City of Calgary has some great facts for saving energy at home. If your project relates, this is a perfect reference. Click here 

Free Lesson Plans:

Wetland education plans for teachers and students provided by Ducks Unlimited Canada.

Bow River Basin Publication List:

Bow River Basin Video - HD - Water is the lifeblood of southern Alberta and the Bow River is critical to the health of the Region. This educational series of vignettes, shot in spectacular High Definition, takes the viewer on a journey of Water Stewardship of the Bow River and how that stewardship affects life in the Bow Basin.

Designed for both students and general audiences, the series looks at the importance of irrigation to life in Southern Alberta.

The 2005 State of the Basin Report
Nurture - Renew - Protect (Click link to go to report in pdf format)

Protecting Riparian Areas: Creative Approaches to Subdivision Development in the Bow River Basin, 2002
Complete Manual (PDF format 5,917Kb)

Guidebook to Water Management, 2002
Guidebook Helpful Hints (PDF format 56Kb)
Complete Guidebook (PDF format 10,373Kb)

Preserving Our Lifeline: A Report on the State of the Bow River, 1994
Executive Summary (PDF format 18Kb)

Preserving Our Lifeline: Survey of Urban Water Use Management in the Bow River Basin, 1998
Executive Summary (PDF format 35Kb)

Calgary Science Network
This organization has fantastic teacher outreach programs - check them out here

For other useful resources on the Bow River please contact:
Bow River Basin Council
Calgary Water Centre
Mail Code #333
P.O. Box 2100 Station M
Calgary, AB T2P 2M5

tel: 403.268.4596
fax: 403.269.6931
email: mark.bennett@calgary.ca

Fast Facts

Did you Know…
• Over 70% of the earth is covered in water, but only 3% of the earth’s water is fresh water and only 0.3% of this is useable to humans.
• The average person needs 30 to 50 litres of fresh water a day for drinking, cooking, washing and sanitation. However, the average North American uses more than 300 litres of water a day! Compare this to the average African, who makes do with just 10 litres a day.
• Riparian areas are important to the health of a watershed. Water in a stream that does not have riparian vegetation will flow fast, which causes soil erosion from stream banks. A healthy river with lots of plants will curve and bend across the land and there will be less erosion.

About…Water & Developing Countries
Source: Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST). Access on October 9, 2009.
• 1.1 billion people in the world do not have access to safe water, roughly one-fifth of the world’s population.
• 2.6 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation, about two-fifths of the world’s population.
• Some 4,900 people die every day from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene – equivalent to 20 jumbo jets crashing every day.
• The average distance that women in Africa and Asia walk to collect water is 6 km.
• One flush of your toilet uses as much water as the average person in the developing world uses for a whole day’s washing, cleaning, cooking and drinking.
• Comparative costs: In Europe $11 billion is spent each year on ice cream; in USA and Europe, $17 billion is spent on pet food; in Europe $105 billion is spent annually on alcoholic drinks, ten times the amount required to ensure water, sanitation and hygiene for all.

Note: Caring for our Watesheds does not take any responsibility for the information on any linked web sites. These external sources are outside of our control and it is the responsibility of users to make their own decision about the accuracy, currency, reliability and correctness of information found. The Caring for our Watesheds program does not necessarily endorse any company or organisation linked to from this site.