Qu’Appelle River Watershed Updates

Updated June 15, 2026

• Most of the lakes in the Qu’Appelle system are at or near their targeted summer operating range.
• Last Mountain Lake is high this spring, sitting about 28 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 4.6 m³/s. Releases were increased early June to support irrigation demands and to help maintain the Buffalo Pound Lake level within its operating range.
• Inflow to Buffalo Pound Lake is 3.8 m³/s.
• There is currently 2.0 m³/s outflow from Buffalo Pound Lake.
• Buffalo Pound Lake is at 509.48 m this morning, which is 1 cm above the targeted summer operating level (509.47 m).

• The water level of the Wascana Lake at Marina is at 570.56 m this morning, slightly above the required summer target elevation as a result of recent rain.
• 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 further operations are planned at this time.

• Last Mountain Lake is currently at 490.55 m, which is 28 cm above the top of the summer operating range (490.27 m). The lake has been receding over the past few weeks, but the decline remains slow despite the Craven Dam gates being fully open.
  • Outflow: about 15.6 m³/s to the Qu’Appelle River from the Last Mountain Lake
  • Release from the Craven Control structure: 18 m³/s
• Inflow from the northern tributaries to Last Mountain Lake—Lanigan Creek and Saline Creek—is about 4 m³/s. Although small and receding, these flows 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 m, which is 15 cm below the top of the summer operating level (479.15 m), but well within the summer operating range.
• With inflows near 20 m³/s, current water levels are expected to be maintained. No further operations are planned for this week.

• Mission and Katepwa lakes are currently at 478.51 m, which is 28 cm above the crest of the weir (478.23 m).
• A release of 1.6 m³/s is planned for this afternoon to lower the lake level into the summer operating range.

• Inflows to Crooked Lake are about 24 m³/s, which is well above normal for this time of year.
• Flow fluctuations in May were driven by operations at Katepwa Lake and by last week’s rainfall. Flows are expected to recede gradually; however, the sustained high flows may increase the risk of bank breaches along this reach of the channel.
• The water level at Crooked Lake is at 451.66 m this morning, which is 5 cm below the top of summer operating level of 451.71 m.
• Stoplog installation is tentatively planned for late June or early July. We are closely monitoring incoming flows and lake levels to evaluate the available operating options.

• The water level of Round Lake is 442.37 m.
• Due to the inability to operate the control structure, Round Lake will continue to drop gradually and is expected to stay below the desirable operating range later in the summer.

Observed:

•  With active weather systems, the northern portion of the basin received 20–60 mm of rainfall, with the heaviest amounts (50–60 mm) near Raymore and Southey.
• The southwestern portion of the basin received about 5–10 mm over the past week.

Forecast:

• Active weather systems, mostly on Wednesday and Friday, are expected to bring 10–60 mm of rainfall to the basin over the next seven days.
• Specifically, about 40–60 mm is expected in the band from the tributaries of Last Mountain Lake to the upper Wascana Creek area.
• The remainder of the basin is expected to receive 10–20 mm over the next seven days.