(File Photo/ paNOW Staff)

By Ronald Quaroni

Water Flow

Low spring precipitation but river level normal

May 10, 2019 | 12:01 PM

A dry, parched spring has not led to a dip in water levels in the Prince Albert region’s two major rivers, the North and South Saskatchewan.

Previous years of high flow might make it seem like we have a lower than usual amount of water moving through the area.

“If you go back a number of years when we’ve had successive years of high flows, people get used to those levels,” Patrick Boyle, a spokesperson with the Water Security Agency said. “The (expectation) is then that, that is the normal, but in reality our near normal levels are something closer to this year.”

(submitted photo/ The Water Security Agency)

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One benefit of normal flow during the spring is river bank erosion or the lack thereof.

“There’s no issues that we know of today that are large scale erosion issues, certainly there could be some happening, but today there hasn’t been anything that’s been brought to our attention,” Boyle told paNOW.

An increased level of melting in our neighbouring province may increase the flow in the future.

“Alpine snow pack in that region of Alberta, when it flows into the North Saskatchewan [it puts levels] above normal, so we’re going to continue to watch that,” Boyle said. “We’re also subject to the rain fall amounts and head water in Western Alberta that could come into Saskatchewan as well.”

If water levels did drop, Boyle explained the water quality could suffer from higher levels of salinity.

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Ron.quaroni@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @RonaldQuaroni