FARMERS AND COMMUNITIES IN PEMBINA VALLEY WATERSHED TO BENEFIT FROM HIGH TECH WATER PLANNING TOOL THANKS TO RBC
Winnipeg, MB – (APRIL 12, 2023) – Pembina Valley Watershed District (PVWD), Swan Lake First Nation, and Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association are partnering in an exciting $35,000 project supported by the RBC Foundation through RBC Tech for Nature. The project partners will work closely with Aquanty, a Canadian software company, on the development of a landscape simulation HydroGeoSphere (HGS) model that will help guide land management decisions and on-farm planning by farmers, watershed districts and communities around water resources.
The soon-to-be-completed HGS model will simulate real time water flows over, under and through the landscape, using climate and weather information to provide 7- and 32-day forecasting for soil moisture, groundwater levels and surface water levels and flow. The tool will be housed on MFGA.net, and will be the second model forecasting tool for the watershed district after the recently-announced AAFC-funded forecasting tool for the PVWD. The partners will organize and provide community stakeholders and local farmers with webinar introductions to the forecasting model around the ability and progress on the forecasting tool. The first such webinar was highlighted at the Pembina Valley Watershed District AGM March 17, 2023.