Prairie Pothole Region, Science, Wetlands

The role of wetlands in Alberta's groundwater

Through wetland conservation and restoration, Ducks Unlimited Canada helps sustain and enhance groundwater recharge

May 07, 2025

Ducks Unlimited Canada is dedicated to keeping and restoring wetlands like these on working landscapes, ensuring they continue to support groundwater security.

As spring runoff begins to flow through Alberta’s valleys, it reminds us of the important role groundwater plays across the landscape. The annual snowmelt influences Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) projects in Alberta and impacts our communities through the seasons ahead.

Groundwater is a vital resource for agricultural communities, supplying clean water for crops, livestock, and other farm operations. Many households and municipalities rely on strong groundwater reserves for drinking water and to maintain lake levels and river flows. Groundwater is essential to Indigenous communities, maintaining water levels and flows that sustain the land. It is a sacred element of traditional life and knowledge, connecting people across generations, and is foundational to sanctuaries where wildlife and people can thrive harmoniously.

Understanding groundwater and its challenges

Groundwater resides beneath the Earth’s surface, filling cracks and spaces in soil, sand, and rock. It occurs in underground formations called aquifers and is frequently a crucial source of fresh water. Rain and snowmelt percolating through the soil replenish groundwater, which naturally reemerges through springs, rivers and wetlands. This water plays a key role in the global water cycle, contributing to ecosystem health and sustaining life. However, groundwater faces increasingly challenging conditions, putting essential drinking water, ecosystems and the environment at risk.

“Depletion of groundwater has occurred over time largely due to the ongoing development of natural landscapes like grasslands and forests, or the draining of wetlands. Wetland loss disrupts their natural recharge function and can lead to declining groundwater levels, potentially affecting availability and quality for other uses,” says Pascal Badiou, research scientist with DUC. “Climate change can also deplete groundwater through increased evapotranspiration and decreased recharge, while impacts on precipitation patterns and how those related to groundwater recharge tend to be more variable.”

These challenges pose a risk to the livelihood of Albertans in so many ways; however, wetlands help mitigate many of these challenges. DUC is dedicated to keeping and restoring wetlands on working landscape, ensuring they continue to support groundwater security. As nature’s multitaskers, there is no better nature-based solution for the job!

This graphic demonstrates how wetlands work and the many benefits they provide for the health of our environment. © DUC

The role of wetlands in groundwater recharge

Because wetlands are depressions on the landscape, they collect water and form an essential component of an area’s water regulation. They are connected to water underground, helping to recharge groundwater and aquifers.

As water drains into a wetland, it is filtered, while bacteria in soils and sediments help break down contaminants. Once the water settles into a wetland, it is absorbed in the saturated sediment on the bottom, further filtering the water before slowly releasing it to groundwater aquifers or surface streams, helping to ensure sustainable water resources during periods of drought and unreliable water supply.

^“

While we generally work with small isolated mineral wetlands like prairie potholes, these can still be hydrologically connected to other wetlands and downstream waterbodies through groundwater.

Pascal Badiou

Badiou explains, “Ali and Creed’s (2017) modeling work in Alberta showed that prairie pothole wetlands are not hydrologically isolated and that the surface and subsurface hydrologic connections vary significantly in terms of their timing and length. These contributions can be substantial regardless of the wetland’s location in the watershed, and the volume flowing through can be comparable to those associated with surface water connections.”

Ducks Unlimited Canada’s wetland conservation efforts in Alberta

Through partnerships with land stewards and its diverse conservation programs, DUC has indirectly contributed to groundwater storage and filtration while enabling delivery of other ecosystem services that support many different people, places and wildlife in Alberta.

Key Impacts:

Water Conservation: Managing 1,690 basins that store 1.6 billion cubic metres of water—equivalent to 90 Glenmore Reservoirs or 640,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Ecosystem Services: Investing millions of dollars in initiatives like wetland restoration, forage programs, and conservation easements to restore and enhance water filtration, groundwater recharge, and wildlife habitat.
Land Conservation: Since 1938, DUC has conserved 2.3 million acres across Canada, focusing on restoring wetlands and grasslands to sustain biodiversity and counter habitat loss.

By working with partners and land stewards, DUC ensures wetlands remain on Alberta’s working landscape, supporting clean water, climate resilience and sustainable livelihoods.

Many of DUC’s managed wetland projects require ongoing maintenance and repairs to continue providing their vital benefits to Albertans. Their critical contribution to healthy, sustainable landscapes underscores the need for support and investment from government and other stakeholders, ensuring their impact endures for generations to come.

To learn more about projects in Alberta, check out this factsheet

To keep in the loop on the latest events and news in Alberta, sign up here.

Blue-winged teal pair on a wetland. Wildlife are not the only beneficiaries of investments in wetland conservation; agriculture and communities benefit from healthy wetlands, too. © DUC/Tye Gregg

Support our work

Support the vital work of Ducks Unlimited Canada in Alberta by donating today—your contribution helps conserve wetlands for wildlife, and ensures a sustainable future for our communities.

Explore donation options

Read These Stories Next

ADOPT project explores feasibility of seeding forages with drones

Landowners, Partnerships, Prairie Pothole Region