The province’s Water Security Agency says it’s planning to increase the release of water from the Gardiner Dam at Lake Diefenbaker ahead of heavy rainfall forecast for southern Alberta.
Forecasts calling for as much as 150 mm of rain in certain areas of southwestern Alberta and the foothills could see the river flowing into the reservoir rise by two to three metres beginning during the weekend and continuing into next week, with higher inflows affecting the water level in Lake Diefenbaker.
The release of water from the lake is designed to reduce the water level of the reservoir but outflows are expected to remain within the capacity of the river channel and should not cause flooding, the agency said in a news release.
As a result of the increased release, the speed of the water flowing through Saskatoon could increase to as much as 900 400 cubic metres per second from the current rate of 400 m3/s with the river level rising an estimated 1.5 metres.
