Upstream of Banff, only one stream is gauged. South Saskatchewan River, Census Division No. “There’s no way we can double that. After 150 years of settlement in the mercurial west, we cannot answer the one question most basic to our livelihood: will there always be enough water? Saskatoon has become a vibrant, young city full of great places and food. Frankly, the jury is still out on whether it can be done.”. We ride our bicycles along its willow banks and mark the arrival of spring by the return of the pelicans that fish every day in the eddies below the weir. TABLE. We cannot have both anymore.” As for the muddy Saskatchewan, Pomeroy echoes a theme: we three million prairie folk are luckier than the roughly 30 million in the Colorado River Basin and face nothing like the hardship of the 2.1 billion who depend on Himalayan rivers. The river is fed by the Bow and Oldman Rivers in southern Alberta and gets 95 percent of its flow from mountain snow and rain. The river is plumbed to roughly half the kitchen taps in the province today. Whether it is right to cut protected forests to compensate for mismanagement of downstream water is another matter. Find the perfect south saskatchewan river stock photo. The Saskatchewan River is formed by the confluence of the North and South Saskatchewan rivers, the headwaters of which are in the Rocky Mountains. jim pattison children's hospital under construction in saskatoon - south saskatchewan river stock pictures, royalty-free photos & images. Much of the eastern Canadian Rockies is under park protection, but reducing fire suppression — or the relentless march of the pine beetle — could have a similar effect. With human-driven climate change expected to hit hard in Palliser’s drought-prone west, we here are taking stock of the one natural resource on which our whole economic future rests. Qu’Appelle River, tributary of the Assiniboine River, in southern Saskatchewan and southwestern Manitoba, Canada.From its source near The Elbow (a bend in the South Saskatchewan River) and Lake Diefenbaker, northwest of Moose Jaw, Sask., the river flows eastward for 270 miles (430 km) through several lakes and First Nations (Indian) reservations before joining the Assiniboine opposite … Actual consumption — withdrawals minus return flows — is about 33 percent. The South Saskatchewan River basin includes the traditional territory of the Assiniboine, Cree and Ojibwa near the river’s confluence with the North Saskatchewan, the Blackfoot Confederacy to the west, and the Métis throughout. The sub-basin comprises the river reach of the South Saskatchewan River and its associated drainage area. The Royal Canadian Geographical Society family of sites: The river is the lifeblood of the prairies, but its future flow will be determined by a supply-demand equation — and the math doesn’t look promising, Canadian Geographic student geography challenge, Help designate an official bird for Canada, Grade 8 students exploring Parks Canada sites, Compare countries' statistics and explore our changing world, Innovative projects in the developing world, The revolution of mapping in the First World War, Canadian pilots heroically earn their wings, Canadian Geographic magazine in french: Géographica, Accessibility Standard for Customer Service Plan. Since none of this is measured, actual consumption is just an estimate based on assumptions. It is an imposing, dramatic presence in an otherwise demure landscape. The South Saskatchewan River (1,392 km long) is a heavily utilized water source in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan and is a major tributary to the Saskatchewan River, ultimately discharging to Hudson Bay. To be fair, such jurisdictional fragmentation is the main obstacle to sustainable ecosystem management gen - erally, not just with the South Saskatchewan River. Huge collection, amazing choice, 100+ million high quality, affordable RF and RM images. Researchers have measured winds of 160 kilometres per hour here, but at the moment, it is perfectly still. Many people mistakenly believe that the South Saskatchewan waters come only from melting glaciers. As the west developed, Medicine Hat became instrumental with the development of the first hospital past Winnipeg in 1889 and as a CPR divisional point. Downstream of Saskatoon, as the prairie transitions to boreal forest, the vegetation shifts to willow, aspen and shrubs. It gains hardly any new water once it leaves Alberta, skirting semi-deserts and many areas of internal drainage that donate hardly a drop to the passing river. “A lot of civilizations have ended because they screwed up their water,” says Pomeroy as we ready ourselves to begin the descent, following this humble bellwether creek down toward the prairie, into its future. "South Saskatchewan River". The city is home to the closest thing that exists to a river head office. Saskatchewan is one of the 13 provinces and territories of Canada and is located in western Canada. South Circle Drive Bridge is a bridge proposed to open 2012 completing Circle Drive around Saskatoon. Users typically meter their intake pipes, but the standards for reporting are lax, and withdrawal numbers alone cannot tell us actual water use. As with every Canadian river and lake, hundreds of government, academic and stewardship agencies at federal, provincial and municipal levels attempt to study and manage the river, directly or indirectly. Things to Do on The South Saskatchewan River. Climate change is projected to further decrease already strained water availability and increase the frequency of droughts as well as the frequency and magnitude of flooding. The drought of 1999-2004, the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history, reduced the GDP by nearly $6 billion. “We know virtually nothing about actual use or consumption of water,” she says. Today, electronic data loggers wirelessly transmit data down the mountain, saving much of the legwork, but each site must still be visited about every 10 days. Indeed, Pomeroy notes that thinning and partial clearing can theoretically double available runoff, and these techniques are used in the Upper Colorado River Basin to increase river flow. We pass down out of the high-and-dry ranch country into fields where irrigation booms send their beneficial spray ssst-ssst-ssst over verdant crops, to the rim of the great valley. Despite our low regional population in the west, we manage to consume about one-third of its flow, which has dropped naturally by 12 percent in the last century. The resulting Lake Diefenbaker sprawls more than 200 kilometres behind the Gardiner and Qu’Appelle dams, an aquatic playground for parched southerners. It flows east to Medicine Hat, Alberta, and turns northeast, crossing the Alberta-Saskatchewan border before being joined by the Red Deer River, then opens up to Lake Diefenbaker, a 225 km long reservoir formed by the Gardiner Dam, and continues through Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, before reaching The Forks at the confluence with the North Saskatchewan River and beginning of the Saskatchewan River. In. Around Riverhurst, the sandy, flat banks resemble those of the Nile seen from a felucca, minus the pyramids. Hydrologist John Pomeroy, his assistant May Guan and I zip gaiters over our boot tops, strap snowshoes onto our rucksacks and begin to climb the Marmot Creek Basin in the Kananaskis foothills west of Calgary. The 2012-14 SSRB Adaptation Project which extended the process to the Oldman and South Saskatchewan River sub-basins and introduced potential future climate variability and change into the discussion and analysis. Circular spray booms have turned the Lethbridge-Medicine Hat corridor into high-value green polka dots of corn, potatoes and beets; the highway is strung with french-fry factories and vast intensive livestock operations. Although these brain collectives are building new hydrological models potentially worth billions to the economy, their funding is precarious and due to run out altogether by year’s end. Like the imperilled polar bear, retreating Rockies glaciers have become emblematic of human-induced climate change. Marmot Creek Basin (not to be confused with the similarly named Jasper National Park ski resort) is a rare exception. My sailing pal Mark and I silently scan the treeless, cactus-sage hills ahead, home to bull snake and burrowing owl. In 1883, when the Canadian Pacific Railway reached Medicine Hat and crossed the South Saskatchewan River, a town site was established using the name from the Indian legends. Hawks ride thermals over the baking prickly pear cactus on the south-facing banks. David Thompson was the first European explorer to travel the extent of the South Saskatchewan and up the Bow River, a major headwater tributary. The fish would die.”, It is Queen Victoria’s birthday. The Saskatoon station is not far from Halliday’s house, just upstream from the weir in a little brick building. And then we seem to find ourselves in a regatta off the California coast. “Our data are piecemeal, just like our fragmented jurisdictions,” she says. “We are taking a third of the river for irrigation already,” he says. We put together a story map to bring attention to Flowering Rush as well as our survey and eradication project. No need to register, buy now! A jumble of government agencies, such as the Prairie Provinces Water Board, wield partial control over the river. (Photo: Nayan Sthankiya), Lake Diefenbaker, a reservoir fed by the South Saskatchewan, is speckled with marinas along its 800-kilometre shoreline. While that looming threat could have grave consequences for the river in the not too distant future, we have hardly begun to understand the river of the present, let alone manage it. Such valleys serve as stone cisterns, where winter’s snows are caught and stored up until spring melt. Like the Colorado, the South Saskatchewan is much diminished by humans. (Photo: Nayan Sthankiya), The Great Sand Hills — 1,900 square kilometres of desert in southwestern Saskatchewan — are moving closer toward the river’s shore. “You have to crawl before you can walk.”. Amid such climatic uncertainty, perhaps the real threats to the South Saskatchewan are not drought or flood, but ignorance and confusion. LAND AND WATER -one half is forest, one third is farmland-over 100,000 lakes, rivers, streams-northern Saskatchewan - forests, marshes, lakes, rivers-southern region - mainly flat prairie with some rolling hills and valleys-sand dunes 30 m. high at Athabasca Provincial Park in northwest Saskatchewan Flowering Rush was first detected in the South Saskatchewan River by the Alberta Invasives Species Council. Currently the river is controlled by dozens of government agencies. Combined, they will be used to better predict tomorrow’s weather or how much river water will flow in the future. That, says Pomeroy, requires far more monitoring than we currently deploy, especially in these mountain basins that are the lifeblood of the prairie river. Südlicher Saskatchewan-Fluss) ist ein Fluss im Westen Kanadas mit einer Gesamtlänge von 886 km. The river basin was home to a large population of bison until European settlement — which included the introduction of rifles and, eventually, railways — brought the bison population to near extinction. Naturally, trees consume water themselves and transpire it into the air. The South Saskatchewan River is a major river in Canada that flows through the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.. For the first half of the 20th century, the South Saskatchewan would completely freeze over during winter, creating spectacular ice breaks and dangerous conditions in Saskatoon, Medicine Hat and elsewhere. Snowfall, rain, wind, solar radiation, snow reflectivity and snow depth are all measured. Declining water quantity may result in inadequate in-stream flow requirements to sustain aquatic species, including fish and benthic invertebrates. When the reckoning comes, it will surely come first to our dryland river. Over lunch, with the distractingly beautiful front-range peaks as a backdrop, Pomeroy gives me his overview of water science and the future of the South Saskatchewan. Newton, B., South Saskatchewan River (2017). South Saskatchewan River BasinLearn more about the river’s basin from this government of Alberta website. Maybe we can someday reach a promised land called integrated water-resources management in the South Saskatchewan. The dams and reservoirs are used for irrigation and hydroelectricity generation. “We also like to have our water essentially free of charge, or close to it. I pray it will not have met that tappedout river’s sad fate by the time my son is an old man. He got the sense that sublimation was a such big factor from prairie dryland farmers who long wondered at the disappearance of snow from their fields. Federal, provincial and municipal governments have spun a tangled web of legislation and programs to manage the river for a thousand uses: safe drinking, powerboat racing, industrial development, bird habitat, to name a few. Photographs often fail to capture the vast scale of this time-rounded glacial spillway, and there is much beauty alongshore as we travel. Our ascent begins at the base of Nakiska Ski Resort, built for the 1988 Calgary Olympics. The Saskatchewan city of Saskatoon is a melting pot of different cultures. “In Canada, we like to have our ecosystems as intact as possible, which is a good thing,” says Pomeroy. We are bound for a station on Fisera Ridge at 2,318 metres, under the grey gaze of Mount Allan. Alberta irrigation is the single largest consumer of South Saskatchewan River water. In 1967, the province finished two dams to trap the river for electrical power and to slake the municipal thirst of Regina and points south. ... From this name is derived the name North Saskatchewan River, used as well for the South Saskatchewan River and the Saskatchewan River, and the province of that name. European exploration and settlement also brought diseases that decimated First Nations populations, including smallpox outbreaks in 1780, 1838, 1856 and 1869. The water under our hull, which has travelled through rugged clay canyons from the river’s birthplace in Alberta, at the confluence of the Bow and Oldman rivers, has already survived its greatest ordeal. Read: 12 Fun & Unique Places to Visit in Saskatchewan. Streamflow is regulated by numerous dams and reservoirs in the river basin, one of which, the Gardiner Dam, is on the South Saskatchewan River itself. North Saskatchewan River is home to the first debit card transaction in Canada. “How do we collect, collate and assess watershed data on meaningful scales?” Dubé is developing a solution called THREATS (The Healthy River Ecosystem Assessment System), a software tool that, when finished, anyone will be able to use to quickly assess environmental impacts. The denser the upslope forest, the less water flows down to the river. I pray it will not have met that tappedout river’s sad fate by the time my son is an old man. Like the Colorado, the South Saskatchewan is much diminished by humans. Humans currently withdraw about 50 percent of the total South Saskatchewan flow. RESULTS OF LONG-TERM TREND ANALYSES FOR MEDIAN MONTHLY FLOW IN THE UPPER-SOUTH SASKATCHEWAN RIVER SUB-BASIN. The South Saskatchewan River flows through an agriculturally productive region and is prone to periodic droughts and floods. There are nearly 12,000 licensed users of river water and 80 percent of the water allocated under these licences is withdrawn in Alberta’s sprawling irrigation districts. Since the future of the river is, in the broadest sense, a supply-demand equation, I set off to the university’s department of economics to find Joel Bruneau, co-editor of a comprehensive technical report called “Climate Change and Water Resources in the South Saskatchewan River Basin.” The ponytailed professor does his part to avert a hotter, drier future climate by getting around Saskatoon by bicycle year-round. “The whole story is irrigation,” says Bruneau before I am quite seated in his office. Yet record rains this year have caused floods and widespread crop damage. In silence, we bump along the uneven pavement of a little-used secondary highway, watching the west turn almost to desert. Kelsey paddled the upper South Saskatchewan, then travelled overland within the basin. In a small mountain valley on the east flank of the Alberta Rockies, John Pomeroy leads the way down a path to The Tree. Click here to learn more. The South Saskatchewan River is formed in S Alberta by the junction of the Bow and Oldman rivers. The native prairie consists of grasses, including spear grass and wheat grass; however, much of the native grassland has been converted for agriculture. Mark and I launch our flat-bottom sailboat at Saskatchewan Landing, a historic ford that is now a provincial park. The Royal Canadian Geographical Society is dedicated to making Canada better known to Canadians, and the world. He now breaks the spell with a declaration of his own, both on the forbidding landscape and on our middle-aged quest upon it. Add in hundreds of NGOs or quasi-government advisory groups — like the basin Partners — and you have more cacophony than chorus. … The water would become warm, covered with algae. In the rear-view mirror, the boat on its trailer tugs to and fro like a worried pony being led into danger. south saskatchewan river in downtown saskatoon with riverboat - south saskatchewan river stock pictures, royalty-free photos & images. Bison jumps and pounds were common for large communal hunts performed between tribes. It gathers and presents diverse watershed data in clear ways, on user-defined geographic scales. The cooler shore opposite harbours hawthorn and buffalo berry, ash and cottonwood. 5 Facts About Saskatchewan River. (Photo: Nayan Sthankiya), The South Saskatchewan provides water for irrigation in Alberta and Saskatchewan. We stop to don our snowshoes but at this time of year we sink through the melting drifts and it is awkward scrambling over the bare spots — like mountain climbing in swim fins. At least one bridge in Saskatoon was destroyed by ice carried by the river. The RCGS is a registered charity. South Saskatchewan River (Map: Steven Fick/Canadian Geographic). “They are already overallocated on the Oldman and Bow rivers and borrowing from the Red Deer to pay the ‘bill’ to Saskatchewan,” says Bruneau, who can foresee a day when Alberta will want to buy some of Saskatchewan’s share. Canadian Geographic is a magazine of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society. The spot is named for Denny Fisera, a Canadian Forest Service employee who made the climb every few days for many years to take readings. As of April 2019, the population of Saskatchewan was estimated to be about 1.2 million people. They heat up in the sun and melt snow wells around their trunks, and their roots create more pathways for water to travel underground. The name, pretty to my ear, is from the Cree for “swift water,” and it is fittingly lent to a whole province where all of us — plants, animals, people — owe our livelihood to the precious flow its two arms carry out to us from the mountains. “Environment Canada has one high-altitude weather station in the Rockies. Agriculture and cities presently withdraw nearly 50 percent of the river’s flow. [21] [22] The city of Medicine Hat hosted a public meeting proposing a Sanitary Sewer and Water Pipeline which is intended to cross the South Saskatchewan River. The South Saskatchewan River flows through an arid, but agriculturally productive and urbanized region of the Canadian prairies, and is subject to numerous environmental stressors that affect water quality and quantity. The physical data collected there are used to build better mathematical models of both hydrology and climate. “Certainly actual use is rarely measured,” confirms Robert Halliday, author of the Partners’ report, when I go to see him for clarification. We don’t have a single snout of a glacier monitored.” Lack of data, he says, impedes our ability to make even basic weather predictions, let alone make forecasts for avalanches, flood, irrigation water supply, forest fires or drought. Hydrology is the science of how water moves over the land, and this place, Pomeroy assures me, “is where the action is.”. There is no means to coordinate them. The South Saskatchewan River flows east to Medicine Hat then turns northeast to the Saskatchewan boundary. This thin veil of late-spring snow, less than a metre deep, is the delicate fabric from which a river is made. In fact, irrigation is still expanding. The South Saskatchewan River (French: rivière Saskatchewan Sud) is a major river in Canada that flows through the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.. For the first half of the 20th century, the South Saskatchewan would completely freeze over during winter, creating spectacular ice breaks and dangerous conditions in Saskatoon, Medicine Hat and elsewhere. Fisera Ridge is exposed to the full blast of high-mountain weather, and a battery of sensing equipment is in place to record the action. In, Newton, Brandi, "South Saskatchewan River". Having waded through hundreds of pages of river studies and reports over the years, I’ve seen water-consumption figures cited exhaustively, used in graphs, equations and, that staple of water literature, pie charts. But they get the bulk of their precious water from snowfall collected in a thousand little foothills valleys like this along the eastern Rocky Mountains. Our team will be reviewing your submission and get back to you with any further questions. (Photo: Nayan Sthankiya), Saskatoon, also known as the City of Bridges, is home to Partners FOR the Saskatchewan River Basin and residents value the river as a central part of their daily lives. Every mystery has a red herring. The river sustains our lawns and our livestock, percolates in our coffee makers, spins electricity out of our turbines, ices our hockey rinks. Consequently, flow is higher than normal during the winter, coinciding with peak electricity demand, and lower than normal during spring as reservoirs are filled to meet summer water demands. The largest historic jump — Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump — is in the Oldman River basin, a headwater tributary river to the South Saskatchewan. Across the water from downtown, the east bank of the river is graced by the elegant greystone architecture of the University of Saskatchewan. Its unique name (originally used for a district of the Northwest Territories in 1882), comes from an English version of a Cree word, kisiskâciwanisîpiy which means “swiftly flowing river”. The kids are there for the same reason I am, perhaps, to see whether someone is minding the store.
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