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An Overview of Climate Change Induced Hydrological Variations in Canada for Irrigation Strategies

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sustainability Review An Overview of Climate Change Induced Hydrological Variations in Canada for Irrigation Strategies Ahmad Zeeshan Bhatti 1,* , Aitazaz Ahsan Farooque 1,2, Nicholas Krouglicof 1, Qing Li 3, Wayne Peters 1, Farhat Abbas 2 and Bishnu Acharya 4 1 Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PE C1A 4P3, Canada; [email protected] (A.A.F.); [email protected] (N.K.); [email protected] (W.P.) 2 School of Climate Change and Adaptation, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PE C1A 4P3, Canada; [email protected] 3 Department of Environment, Energy, and Climate Action, Government of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PE C1A 7N8, Canada; [email protected] 4 Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A9, Canada; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +1-(902)-566-6084 Abstract: Climate change is impacting different parts of Canada in a diverse manner. Impacts on temperature, precipitation, and stream flows have been reviewed and discussed region and province- wise. The average warming in Canada was 1.6 ◦C during the 20th century, which is 0.6 ◦C above the global average. Spatially, southern and western parts got warmer than others, and temporally winters got warmer than summers. Explicit implications include loss of Arctic ice @ 12.8% per decade, retreat of British Columbian glaciers @ 40–70 giga-tons/year, and sea level rise of 32 cm/20th century Citation: Bhatti, A.Z.; Farooque, on the east coast, etc. The average precipitation increased since 1950s from under 500 to around A.A.; Krouglicof, N.; Li, Q.; Peters, W.; 600 mm/year, with up to a 10% reduction in Prairies and up to a 35% increase in northern and Abbas, F.; Acharya, B. An Overview southern parts. Precipitation patterns exhibited short-intense trends, due to which urban drainage of Climate Change Induced and other hydraulic structures may require re-designing. Streamflow patterns exhibited stability Hydrological Variations in Canada overall with a temporal re-distribution and intense peaks. However, surface water withdrawals for Irrigation Strategies. Sustainability were well under sustainable limits. For agriculture, the rainfed and semi-arid regions may require 2021, 13, 4833. https://doi.org/ supplemental irrigation during summers. Availability of water is mostly not a limitation, but the 10.3390/su13094833 raised energy demands thereof are. Supplemental irrigation by water and energy-efficient systems, Academic Editor: Riccardo Accorsi adaptation, and regulation can ensure sustainability under the changing climate. Received: 14 March 2021 Keywords: global warming; glacier melt; precipitation patterns; hydrology; aquifers; sea level rise Accepted: 22 April 2021 Published: 25 April 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral 1. Introduction with regard to jurisdictional claims in Canada is geographically the second-largest country in the world, expanding over published maps and institutional affil- 9.98 million km2. Its substantial area is, however, occupied by freshwater, i.e., 0.89 mil- iations. lion km2. Situated on the North American continent, Canada is located between latitude 42◦ to 83◦ N and longitude 53◦ to 141◦ W. The country is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the east and the Pacific Ocean in the west [1–3]. Canada is a vast country, as wide as it is long, with the longest coastline (202,080 km), yet it has the lowest population density of Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. 3.8 persons/km2. Hydrological diversity prevails, including precipitation and land use Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. across 10 provinces in Canada, as shown in Figure1[2]. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). Sustainability 2021, 13, 4833. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094833 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability Sustainability 2021, 13, 4833Sustainability 2021, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 216 of 15 (a) (b) Figure 1. 1.SpatialSpatial distribution distribution of average of annual average precipitation annual (a) precipitationand land-use diversity (a) and (b) in land-use Canada [2]. diversity (b) in Canada [2]. Canada is impacted by climate change in terms of warming, changing precipitation patterns, streamflow patterns, etc. An overview of all the changes has been made to pro- Canada ispose impacted some irrigation by climate strategies. change The novelty in terms of the of article warming, is that it changing integrates information precipitation patterns, streamflowscattered patterns,in government etc. reports An overview and scientific of publications all the changes to understand has been climate made change to pro- pose some irrigationimpacts on strategies. Canadian Thehydrological novelty regimes of the better article and is find that some it integrates sustainableinformation irrigation strategies. Specific research questions explored under the study are: what are the patterns scattered in governmentof warming, precipitation, reports and and scientific stream flows publications in Canada under to understand the changing climate? climate What change impacts on Canadianare freshwater hydrological availability, regimeswithdrawals, better and its and sustainability find some implications sustainable in different irrigation strategies. Specificregions? research What irriga questionstion strategies explored can be adopted under for the sustainable study are: agriculture what under are the the pat- terns of warming,changing precipitation, climate? and stream flows in Canada under the changing climate? What are freshwater availability, withdrawals, and its sustainability implications in differ- 2. Materials and Methods ent regions? What irrigation strategies can be adopted for sustainable agriculture under The paper integrates information scattered across governmental reports and scien- the changing climate?tific publications. Governmental websites were used to extract pertinent information, and Google scholar was majorly used to search relevant scientific publications. Initially, 2. Materials andaround Methods 150 publications were short-listed and reviewed. However, almost one-third of The paperthose integrates could not information provide addedscattered information across and were governmental, therefore, excluded. reports Only and infor- scien- mation for which more than one authentic source was available has been presented. tific publications.Delineation Governmental of climate websites change impacts were was used segregated to extract into pertinenttemperature, information, precipita- and Google scholartion patterns, was majorlystreamflow used patterns, to searchand appropriate relevant irrigation scientific strategies publications. thereof. The Initially,anal- around 150 publicationsysis was spatially were segregated short-listed into the and West reviewed. Coast (British However, Columbia), almost Prairies one-third (Alberta, of those could notSaskatchewan, provide added and Manitoba), information Central and Canada were, (Ontario therefore, and Quebec), excluded. and Atlantic Only informa- Can- ada (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, and Labrador) tion for whichon more a broader than scale. one However, authentic provincial source results was available were also included. has been Freshwater presented. availabil- Delineationity in of provinces climate was change calculated impacts fromwas their segregatedweighted average into annual temperature, precipitations precipitation for the patterns, streamflowlatest climate patterns, norm available and appropriate, i.e., 1971–2000 irrigation, as shown strategiesin Figure 1a thereof.to serve as Thebench- anal- ysis was spatiallymarks. segregated Hydrological into variations the West that occurred Coast (Britishthereafter Columbia), have been presented Prairies and (Alberta, dis- Saskatchewan,cussed andManitoba), region-wise. CentralContoured Canada precipitations (Ontario within and provincial Quebec), boundaries and Atlantic were multi- Canada plied with their respective areas and added together to estimate freshwater availabilities. (Nova Scotia, NewSustainable Brunswick, availability/withdrawals Prince Edward were Island, taken as Newfoundland, 40% of the total water and availability Labrador) as on a broader scale. However, provincial results were also included. Freshwater availability in provinces was calculated from their weighted average annual precipitations for the latest climate norm available, i.e., 1971–2000, as shown in Figure1a to serve as bench- marks. Hydrological variations that occurred thereafter have been presented and discussed region-wise. Contoured precipitations within provincial boundaries were multiplied with their respective areas and added together to estimate freshwater availabilities. Sustainable availability/withdrawals were taken as 40% of the total water availability as an established norm. Rational techniques were used to approximate surface water and groundwater as 60% and 20% of sustainable water availability in each province, which in turn, were coun- terchecked from publications. A flow chart of the input data, steps, and assumptions for computation of sustainable surface water availability, withdrawals, and percent surface water use is given in Figure2. Sustainability 2021, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 3 of 16 an established norm. Rational techniques were used to approximate surface water
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