Qu’Appelle River Watershed Updates

Updated September 28, 2026

• Most of the lakes in the Qu’Appelle system are slightly above their targeted fall operating ranges.
• Last Mountain Lake is high, sitting about 23 cm above the top of the September operating range. The lake level is approximately steady with the Craven structure fully open.
• An initial stoplog removal operation will take place this week at Echo Lake. Next week, additional stoplogs will be removed from the Echo Lake control structure and all stoplogs will be removed from the Crooked Lake control structure.

• The Qu’Appelle River Dam release is 2.0 m³/s. This flow is expected to be maintained, and no operation is planned at this time.
• Inflow to Buffalo Pound Lake is 2.0 m³/s.
• There is currently 6.0 m³/s outflow from Buffalo Pound Lake.
• Buffalo Pound Lake is at 509.51 m, which is 19 cm above the top of the fall operating range (509.32 m), and has been steadily declining.

• The water level of Wascana Lake at the Marina is 570.61 m, which is slightly above the required fall target elevation.
• Due to ongoing construction work, the City of Regina has requested a target elevation of about 570.52 m for Wascana Lake, which is 7 cm below Full Supply Level.
• No operation is planned at this time.

• Last Mountain Lake is currently at 490.29 m, which is 23 cm above the top of the September operating range (490.06 m). The lake level has been approximately steady over the past two weeks with the Craven Dam gates remaining fully open.
  • Outflow: about 7 m³/s to the Qu’Appelle River from Last Mountain Lake.
  • Qu’Appelle River near Lumsden: 9 m³/s.
  • Release from the Craven Control structure: 16 m³/s.
• Inflow from the northern tributaries to Last Mountain Lake is less than 1 m³/s.
• No operations are currently planned for this structure in the near future.

• Pasqua and Echo lakes are currently at 479.07 m, which is 8 cm above the top of the September operating range (478.99 m).
• Inflows remain near 20 m³/s and are expected to remain elevated.
• An initial operation to remove stoplogs from the Echo Lake control structure is scheduled for tomorrow, September 29. This will begin the process of gradually drawing the Echo Lake level down and will be followed by three additional stoplog removal operations on October 6, October 20 and November 3.

• Mission and Katepwa lakes are currently at 478.34 m, which is 11 cm above the top of the September operating range (478.23 m).
• The release from the Katepwa Lake control structure was increased late last week from 8 m³/s to 10 m³/s to prepare for the upcoming stoplog removal operations at the Echo Lake structure while keeping flows within the channel capacity downstream.

• Inflow to Crooked Lake, as indicated by the Qu’Appelle River at Hyde gauge, is about 17 m³/s, which is well above normal for this time of year and is expected to increase slightly in the coming weeks with fall operations underway at upstream reservoirs.
• The water level at Crooked Lake is 451.65 m, which is 6 cm below the top of the September operating range (451.71 m).
• Removal of all stoplogs from the Crooked Lake control structure is planned for next week, October 7, and will be completed using a mobile crane. Following removal of the stoplogs, the Crooked Lake water level is expected to decline to normal winter operating levels over several weeks.

• The water level of Round Lake is 442.1 m.
• Round Lake is currently within its operating range, and the water level is approximately steady. The inability to operate the control structure means that the Round Lake level depends mainly on inflow from upstream.
• With fall operations underway at upstream lakes, the Round Lake level is expected to rise slightly in the next two to three weeks.

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: