Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look back at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list ...
After years of drought, low river levels and sand buildup along the South Saskatchewan River, a surge of mountain runoff could bring some long-awaited relief to Saskatchewan.
John Pomeroy, a professor at the University of Saskatchewan and director of the Global Water Futures Observatories Project, said parts of Saskatchewan and Alberta may be seeing a turning point after nearly a decade of dry conditions.
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“Parts of Saskatchewan and Alberta have been in a drought for almost 10 years, and at least for the hydrological part, we’re starting to see the end of this,” Pomeroy said.
The higher flows are being driven by heavy rainfall in Alberta and a large mountain snowpack, which is melting into the North and South Saskatchewan river systems.
Pomeroy said snowpack stations monitored by the Global Water Futures Observatories Project, stretching from Jasper National Park to Kananaskis Country, recorded unusually high levels this year.
“The snowpacks have been incredibly high this year, record-setting in some places, because of just repeated large snowfall events,” he said.
At one long-term monitoring site in Kananaskis, Pomeroy said the snowpack normally peaked at about 600 millimetres of water equivalent. This year, it reached more than 815 millimetres. Last year, it was only 396 millimetres.
“It’s really been a drought-busting snowpack,” he said.
Pomeroy said the added moisture was good news for groundwater, wetlands, lakes, soil moisture, wildfire risk and the broader Saskatchewan River system. He said Lake Diefenbaker was expected to refill to above-normal storage levels, while higher releases toward Saskatoon would bring river flows not seen in years.
“Saskatoon will experience higher stream flows than it has for many, many years, perhaps maybe the highest since 2011, which was a very high flow year,” he said.
Sandbars fill the South Saskatchewan River near Saskatoon in 2025. (Lara Fominoff/650 CKOM)
More water welcomed by Prairie Lily
The rising water was also welcome news for Saskatoon riverboat Prairie Lily, which has dealt with challenging river conditions in recent years.
Mike Steckhan, senior captain on the Prairie Lily, said the issue isn’t just low water, but years of sediment buildup after a long dry stretch.
“It wasn’t a matter of the low water, it was a matter of the high sand,” Steckhan said.
Steckhan said the boat is capable of sailing in low water, but the river valley had become clogged with sand after years without a strong enough upstream flush.
“The valley’s plugged with sand,” he said.
Steckhan said the past year and a half to two years had been especially frustrating. He said he had been in contact with the Water Security Agency about the problem and hoped future water management policies would consider sediment buildup alongside flooding, drought, irrigation and power production.
He said stronger flows expected this week could start to move some of the sand and return the river closer to its natural condition.
“That kind of a flow will actually start to clean the valley out and clean all that five years of silt deposition out,” Steckhan said.
Pomeroy said the higher flows would likely be positive for the river, but warned people using the water should be careful.
“The velocities in the channel are going to be much higher,” he said. “You have to exercise extreme caution, and some people might be best for them not to do it, and just wait a few weeks until it settles down a bit.”
The rising water was also welcome news for Saskatoon riverboat Prairie Lily, which has dealt with challenging river conditions in recent years.(650 CKOM files)
Steckhan said the Prairie Lily was built for river conditions and could handle higher flows, but agreed that smaller watercraft would face greater risk.
“If I had a canoe or a kayak, I wouldn’t be coming in this river,” he said.
Pomeroy said the water would also benefit areas such as the Cypress Hills, where rainfall helped restore moisture in small reservoirs, creeks and groundwater systems.
He said some areas may now be dealing with too much water for seeding, but overall soil moisture conditions had improved significantly.
“Generally, we’re only seeing benefits from this event,” Pomeroy said.
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