Water conservationists are arguing Albertans should be paying more for their water.

Unlike other western Canadians, Albertans only pay for the cost of the delivery of water to their homes, not for the water itself. British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba already place a dollar value on water. 

Unlike other western Canadians, Albertans only pay for the cost of the delivery of water to their homes, not for the water itself.
(CBC News)

"If it costs money to waste water, that would move people to conserve water," said Nathalie Odd, the head of Clean Calgary, a water conservation group.

A warming climate and a booming population have some warning that Alberta could one day face a water shortage. Already, the province has placed a water licence on three Southern Alberta rivers.

Turn off the tap: conservationist

Albertans are wasteful when it comes to water, watering their lawns too much, taking extra long showers, and leaving their taps running when they brush their teeth, Odd said.

Municipalities should set a significant price for water, and quickly, she said.

"Most people are not going to take those conservation measures until they have incentives or disincentives to do so," she said.
 
Could hurt farming, oil and gas industries

Kurt Klein, an economist at the University of Lethbridge, agrees that putting water into the market system would mean people would use less.

"There's no question if you put a price on anything, people will use less. That's one of the virtues of a market system: you ration the available supply."

But Klein says increasing the cost of water could hurt some users, like farmers.

"We need to be a little bit careful because a lot of people's lives and livelihoods depend on the changes we do make."

If the price of water goes up for oil companies the province's economy could suffer, warned Kevin Stashin. Stashin is with Devon Energy Corporation, an oil and gas company.

If water prices are raised, they should be increased for everyone, not one industry, he said.

"We're not a large user of water and if we are going to effect change in this province economic instruments such as water pricing has to apply to everybody. Everybody's behaviours have to change."