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Alberta is facing a water shortage not seen since 2001 amid one of the hottest and driest summers on record, a provincial government official says.

Last week, the province issued at least 40 water shortage advisories halting water diversions from rivers along with mandatory and voluntary fishing bans, as the parched weather conditions depleted reservoirs, said David Hunt, water approvals team lead with Alberta Environment and Parks.

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“It’s the (low) precipitation and high temperatures — it’s what we have to manage,” said Hunt.

“If it continues this way, we’ll have the same situation we had in 1999 to 2001.”

At that time, agricultural and other large users dealt with reservoirs depleted to the point where they faced foregoing 50 per cent of their normal allotments, he said.

Users, particularly in the province’s south, are seeing a repeat of those times, said Hunt.

“This year, for the major irrigation districts, water demand has been high and their reservoir levels have been depleted, and they’ll be looking to fill them for a supply for next year,” he said.