Water is essential to life and socio-economic development. In the populated southern parts of the
Prairie provinces, surface water bodies of significant size are limited and many are not reliable
water sources due to inadequate supply and/or unsuitable water quality. In the absence of
abundant surface water supplies, groundwater has historically played a very significant role as a
water supply source in the Prairie provinces. However, reliance on groundwater across the
provinces may vary from region to region.
