Qu’Appelle River Watershed Updates

Updated October 26, 2026

• Most of the lakes in the Qu’Appelle system are near or within their targeted operating ranges for October.
• Last Mountain Lake is 13 cm above the top of its October operating range. The lake continues to recede slowly with the Craven structure fully open.
• With the freeze-up approaching and only limited operations continuing, this will be the last weekly update of the season.

• The Qu’Appelle River Dam release is currently 2.0 m³/s. As part of the annual channel maintenance program, releases will be suspended for approximately three weeks, starting early next week.
• Inflow to Buffalo Pound Lake is 1.4 m³/s
• There is currently 1.2 m³/s of outflow from Buffalo Pound Lake. Operations are planned this Friday to adjust the outflow to the winter setting of 0.5 m³/s.
• Buffalo Pound Lake is at 509.37 m, which is 5 cm above the top of October operating range (509.32 m), and has been steadily declining since mid-September.

• The water level of Wascana Lake at the Marina is 570.59 m, slightly above the required 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.

• Last Mountain Lake is currently at 490.13 m, which is 13 cm above the top of October operating range (490.00 m). Despite fluctuations over the past month, the lake has been gradually receding, but the decline remains slow even though the Craven Dam gates remain fully open.
  • Outflow: about 7.9 m³/s to the Qu’Appelle River from Last Mountain Lake.
  • Qu’Appelle River near Lumsden: 3.1 m³/s.
  • Release from the Craven Control structure: 11 m³/s.
• No operations are currently planned for this structure in the near future.

• Pasqua and Echo lakes are currently at 478.72 m, which is 12 cm below the top of October operating range (478.84 m).
• Current inflows are approximately 15 m³/s, which is well above normal for this time of year due to the high lake level in Last Mountain Lake. Above-normal flows are expected to persist through the winter, with flows anticipated to decrease to 5-10 m³/s during the winter period.
• The second of three fall operations was completed on October 20, lowering the lake level by approximately 10 cm. The final fall operation is planned for later this week or early next week.

• Mission and Katepwa lakes are currently at 478.32 m, which is 9 cm above the crest of the weir (478.23 m) and close to normal levels.
• The current release from the Katepwa Lake Control Structure is 10 m³/s. Outflows from the lake continue to be constrained by backwater effects.

• Inflow to Crooked Lake is about 15 m³/s, which is well above normal for this time of year.
• The water level at Crooked Lake is 451.33 m, which is 23 cm below the top of October operating range of 451.56 m. The level is expected to continue declining, with some fluctuations possible due to upstream operations in the coming weeks.

• The water level of Round Lake is 442.14 m.
• The recent rise in lake level was due to upstream fall operations. Although the current level is slightly above the top of the October operating range, it is expected to decline.

Observed:

• Approximately 5-10 mm of precipitation was recorded across most parts of the basin over the past week.

Forecast:

• Another 5- 10 mm of precipitation 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: