Qu’Appelle River Watershed Updates

Updated August 31, 2026

• Most of the lakes in the Qu’Appelle system are within or slightly above their targeted summer operating ranges.
• The basin received 10–40 mm of widespread rainfall over the past days, with the heaviest amounts on August 30. This event produced lake‑level increases of about 2–18 cm, and localized flooding occurred in some urban locations.
• Last Mountain Lake is high, sitting about 7 cm above the top of its summer operating range. The lake is receding slowly with the Craven structure fully open.

• The Qu’Appelle River Dam release is 6.1 m³/s.
• Inflow to the Buffalo Pound Lake is 5.7 m³/s
• There is currently 2.0 m³/s outflow from Buffalo Pound Lake.
• Buffalo Pound Lake is currently 509.38 m, which is 9 cm below the top of the summer operating range of 509.47 m. The top of the operating range will be slightly lower for September, at 509.32 m.
• No changes in operations are planned at this time.

• The water level at the Wascana Lake Marina is 570.65 m, an increase of about 0.18 m since August 30 following yesterday’s intense storm. The current level is approximately 0.12 m above the required summer target elevation.
• Due to ongoing construction work, the City of Regina requested a target elevation of about 570.52 m for Wascana Lake, which is 7 cm below FSL.
• No operations are currently planned at Wascana Lake.

• Last Mountain Lake is currently at 490.19 m, which is 7 cm above the top of the summer operating range (490.12 m). The lake has been gradually receding since early July, but the decline remains slow even though the Craven Dam gates remain fully open.
  • Outflow: about 10.1 m³/s to the Qu’Appelle River from Last Mountain Lake.
  • Qu’Appelle River near Lumsden: 1.9 m³/s.
  • Release from the Craven Control structure: 12 m³/s.
• There are minimal contributions from the northern tributaries of Last Mountain Lake.
• No operations are currently planned for this structure in the near future.

• Pasqua and Echo lakes are currently at 478.93 m, which is 22 cm below the top of the summer operating level (479.15 m). Levels have risen slightly over the past few days due to the recent storm system.
• With inflows near 15 m³/s, current water levels are expected to remain within the fall operating range, and no operations are planned for this week.

• Mission and Katepwa lakes are currently at 478.32 m, which is 6 cm below the top of the summer operating range (478.38 m).
• The current release from the Katepwa Lake control structure is 8 m³/s. This release has helped draw Katepwa Lake down slightly and has supported maintaining levels at Crooked Lake.
• No further operations are planned for this week.

• Inflow to Crooked Lake, as indicated by the Qu’Appelle River at Hyde gauge, is about 14 m³/s, which is well above normal for this time of year.
• The water level at Crooked Lake is 451.41 m, which is the bottom of the summer operating range. The level has risen slightly over the past few days due to the storm system in the basin.
• Due to ongoing structural and operational constraints, no stoplogs will be installed at Crooked Lake this fall. With no stop logs in place, the lake level is expected to slowly decline, approaching the bottom of the fall operating range over the coming weeks.

• The water level of Round Lake is 442.27 m. The level has risen slightly over the past few days due to the storm system in the basin.
• Round Lake is currently close to the top of the September operation range.  The lake level is expected to decline gradually over the coming weeks.

Observed:

• • Rainfall totals over the past week ranged from 10–60 mm, with 20–30 mm observed on August 30 through much of the basin.

Forecast:

• • Storm activity is expected to continue this week, with 35–80 mm of rainfall in the seven‑day forecast.

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: