The Medicine River Watershed in west-central Alberta has limited dedicated groundwater level monitoring infrastructure, despite being an important tributary system within the Red Deer River Basin. Here's a comprehensive overview of available recorded groundwater level data for this watershed.

Current Monitoring Infrastructure

Provincial Groundwater Observation Well Network (GOWN)

Alberta's GOWN operates 306 active monitoring wells across the province, with 232 wells using electronic data loggers downloaded annually and 57 wells transmitting hourly data via satellite. However, research indicates that no specific GOWN wells are definitively identified within the Medicine River watershed boundaries. The nearest GOWN wells appear to be distributed throughout the broader Red Deer River basin but not specifically located within the Medicine River subwatershed.alberta+1

Surface Water Monitoring Station

The primary hydrometric monitoring station relevant to the watershed is Water Survey Canada Station 05CC007 (Medicine River near Eckville), which has provided continuous surface water flow and level data since 1962. This station offers extensive historical records including daily discharge and water level measurements, representing the most comprehensive long-term dataset available for the watershed.wateroffice.ec+1

Regional Groundwater Studies

Several county-level groundwater assessments provide regional context for understanding groundwater resources in the Medicine River area:

Red Deer County: Studies indicate the presence of both surficial and bedrock aquifers throughout the region, with water wells commonly completed at depths ranging from less than 50 meters to over 100 meters below ground surface.ponokacounty

Lacombe County: Regional assessments document groundwater availability in the Paskapoo Formation, which underlies much of the watershed area. Expected yields from this formation range from 160 to 650 cubic meters per day.lacombecounty

Ponoka County: Contains approximately 5,900 water wells with completion data, indicating significant groundwater use throughout the broader region encompassing parts of the Medicine River watershed.ponokacounty

Water Quality and Level Monitoring Programs

Medicine River Watershed Society (MRWS)

The MRWS has conducted water quality monitoring programs during two distinct periods:medicineriverwatershed+1

2006-2007: Initial monitoring program that revealed concerning water quality conditions
2022-present: Resumed monitoring in partnership with the Red Deer River Watershed Alliance using CreekWatch methodology

Current monitoring includes three locations along the Medicine River and tributaries, with monthly sampling during the open water season testing seven parameters including dissolved oxygen, nutrients, and physical characteristics.castoradvance+1

Historical Monitoring Gap

A significant 15-year gap in systematic water quality monitoring occurred between 2007 and 2022, during which limited data collection took place in the watershed.landstewardship

Available Data Sources

medicine_river_groundwater_monitoring_sources.csv

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medicine_river_monitoring_findings.csv

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Industry and Development Monitoring

Private sector groundwater monitoring occurs through various industrial activities:

Oil and Gas Operations: The watershed has a high density of oil and gas wells (up to 40 wells per square kilometer near Eckville), with some companies conducting voluntary groundwater monitoring programs.rdrwa+1

Development Projects: Groundwater assessments are required for new developments, providing site-specific data but typically not contributing to long-term regional monitoring networks.lacombecounty+1

Data Accessibility and Limitations

Public Access: Surface water data from WSC Station 05CC007 is freely available through Environment and Climate Change Canada's online portal. GOWN data is accessible through Alberta's groundwater database, though limited within the specific watershed.alberta

Data Gaps: The most significant limitation is the absence of dedicated, long-term groundwater level monitoring wells specifically within the Medicine River watershed boundaries. Most available groundwater information comes from:

Individual water well drilling reports in the Alberta Water Well Information Database
Regional assessments that cover broader areas
Project-specific studies with limited temporal scope

Regional Context: While approximately 500,000 water well records exist in Alberta's database dating back to the 1950s, extracting watershed-specific groundwater level trends requires careful analysis of individual well records.alberta

Recommendations for Enhanced Monitoring

The current monitoring infrastructure reveals opportunities for improvement:

Establishment of dedicated GOWN wells within the watershed to provide continuous groundwater level monitoring
Integration of existing private monitoring data from industrial operations
Expansion of the MRWS monitoring program to include groundwater level measurements
Coordination between counties to develop a watershed-scale groundwater monitoring strategy

The Medicine River watershed represents an important water resource in central Alberta, but comprehensive groundwater level monitoring remains limited compared to surface water monitoring capabilities. The available data sources provide valuable regional context, though establishing dedicated groundwater monitoring infrastructure would significantly enhance understanding of aquifer conditions and long-term trends in this agriculturally and industrially important watershed.

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Monday, August 18, 2025

Recorded Groundwater Level Data in the Medicine River Watershed