If you’ve noticed Kootenay Lake is looking a little low this summer, you would be right.
The International Kootenay Lake Board of Control (IKLBC) say the Water Survey of Canada preliminary data shows this is the lowest summer level since 1976.
“We use the 1976 to 2023 period as kind of our comparison period for Kootenay Lake levels because in 1976 was when Libby Dam was functional, so that has a big impact on the lake levels.” said Joel Trubilowicz, Canadian co-chair of the International Kootenay Lake Board of Control.
According to Trubilowicz, there are a number of factors contributing to the low level of the lake.
“The weather over the past winter and how much snow accumulates in the mountains that feed into the watershed are a big factor,”
“It was quite a low snow year in the Kootenay watershed. That means less water runs off into fill the lake, and that plays a big factor, but then the other factor is sort of the reservoir operations.”
“The reservoir operations of Kootenay Lake itself, which is handled by Fortis BC, Corra Linn Dam, and then also the reservoir operations upstream of the lake, which means Libby Dam, which is from Lake Koocanusa, operated by the Army Corps Engineers in the US, and also Duncan Dam, which is operated by BC Hydro.”
“Those combination of operations from the three different dams also influence the lake levels on Kootenay Lake.”
Levels are expected to increase as we head into fall.
Real-time Kootenay Lake levels can be found at the FortisBC website.
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