Qu’Appelle River Watershed Updates

Updated July 13, 2026

• Most of the lakes in the Qu’Appelle system are near or above their summer operating range.
• Last Mountain Lake is about 26 cm above the top of its summer operating range. The lake is receding slowly even with the Craven structure fully open.

• The Qu’Appelle River Dam release is currently about 4 m³/s. The release will be reduced by 1 m³/s today to help draw down the Buffalo Pound Lake level toward its operating range while still meeting irrigation and other upstream needs.
• Inflow to Buffalo Pound Lake is 3.7 m³/s.
• Buffalo Pound Lake is at 509.62 m, which is 15 cm above the top of the summer operating level (509.47 m). With reduced release and increased evaporation, the lake is expected to start receding in the coming days.
• There is currently 3.0 m³/s outflow from Buffalo Pound Lake.

• The water level of the Wascana Lake at Marina is 570.57 m.
• The release was terminated last Thursday, July 9. No further operations are planned at this time.

• Last Mountain Lake is currently at 490.53 m, which is 26 cm above the top of the summer operating range (490.27 m). The lake has been receding since late May but rose recently due to rainfall events. Despite this, the overall decline remains slow even with the Craven Dam gates fully open.
  • Outflow: about 4 m³/s to the Qu’Appelle River from the Last Mountain Lake
  • Qu’Appelle River near Lumsden is about 20 m³/s
  • Release from the Craven Control structure: 24 m³/s
• Inflow from the northern tributaries to Last Mountain Lake—mostly from Lanigan Creek—is about 15 m³/s. Flows have risen slightly since July 1 due to rainfall runoff. Although the flows are receding, they remain well above normal for this time of year.
• No operations are currently planned for this structure in the near future.

• Pasqua and Echo lakes are currently at 479.2 m, which is 5 cm above the top of the summer operating level (479.15 m).
• With flows of approximately 25 m³/s from the Moose Jaw River approaching Echo Lake, the lake level is rising. An operation is planned early this week to remove some stoplogs and draw the lake level down toward the summer operating range.

• Mission and Katepwa lakes are currently at 478.48 m, which is 10 cm above the top of the summer operating range (478.38 m).
• The release will be increased from 3 m³/s to 5 m³/s this week to draw the lake level down into the summer operating range.

• Inflows to Crooked Lake are about 19 m³/s, which is well above normal for this time of year.
• The water level at Crooked Lake is at 451.65 m this morning, which is 6 cm below the top of summer operating level of 451.71 m.
• No operations are planned this week, and the structure remains fully open.

• The water level of Round Lake is 442.32 m.
• Although the lake is currently within its operating range, the inability to operate the control structure means Round Lake will continue to decline gradually and is expected to be near the bottom of the desirable operating range later in the summer.

Observed:

• No significant rain has occurred in the basin over the past week.

Forecast:

• No significant rainfall is forecasted for the next 7 days.

Seven‑day total precipitation (mm) across the Qu’Appelle River Basin:

Forecasted total precipitation (in millimeters) for the upcoming seven days, based on the Canadian GEM model: