Alberta runs on prior appropriation: first in time, first in right. When a basin's allocation reaches its limit, the province can close it to new surface licences.
The South Saskatchewan River Basin reached that point. The Bow, Oldman, and lower South Saskatchewan sub-basins closed in 2006 and 2007.
After closure, new consumptive allocation comes from an existing holder willing to sell, through a transfer. A growing community assembles supply as a stack of acquisitions over years rather than a single new licence.
Map how peer communities assembled their licence stacks, treat an indexed transfer count as a diligence timeline, and confirm which authorizations remain active on the current holder row before any acquisition closes.
Confirm closure status against water management plan orders, and every authorization in the Environmental Records Viewer.