River levels in Saskatoon high, but not a concern, agency says

The water level of the South Saskatchewan River is much higher than normal because of the amount of snowpack and precipitation in Alberta from winter.

“At the end of April, the mountain snowpack in Alberta was above normal,” said Patrick Boyle, a spokesman for the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency, adding that the meltwater from that snowpack was one of multiple contributing factors to high water levels.

Boyle noted that the water level of Lake Diefenbaker — home of the Gardiner Dam — is higher than normal for this time of year.

And government statistics from the Water Security Agency’s website show that the current watershed for the South Saskatchewan River at Saskatoon is among the highest it’s been all year, with a measured flow of nearly 400 cubic meters per second.

To compare, Boyle said the average flow for the river is much closer to 130 cubic meters per second.

Yet despite being almost three times greater than average, he said it’s not uncommon at this time of year and there’s no reason for concern.

One of the biggest benefits of Gardiner Dam is that it provides the ability to see big changes coming from Alberta long before they happen — something Boyle called an “amazing” advantage for the many parties involved in work at the dam.

“We have a lot of lead time on (changes in water flow)," Boyle said.

“The difficult part is saying if we get 10 inches of rain, for example, in one area, what does that translate to in the river system?

“We don’t really know until we see that come through from Alberta.”

Unless there is a “significant rainfall event” to impact the water levels and flows, everything is expected to return to normal over the next couple of weeks, he added.

“If you look at it on the scope of averages, it’s not out of the ordinary to be in this range where we’re at currently,” he said.