Rainfall Didn't Do Much To Boost Red River Levels

 The recent rainfall has had minimal affect in restoring one of the region's main water sources, the Red River. 

"It's wonderful to see the water, but certainly we're going to need a lot more to solve some of our problems," said Greg Archibald, CEO of the Pembina Valley Water Co-op (PVWC). Essentially, noted Archibald, the river level has recorded little bumps - give or take an inch. The latest information posted to the PVWC web site, shows flows on the Red River are 18 per cent of what they were on June 25th, and the water level has dropped a total of .94 meters, or 36.81 inches.

Ideally, Archibald said it would take several weeks of rainfall followed by a good drop of snow to start replenishing the river. "We're hopeful that maybe things will get to the point where the ground gets saturated, so then you have run-off in to the river. Obviously, that's not happening for us right now," he noted.

Meantime, plans are forging ahead to pull more water from the declining river as the winter-freeze up approaches.

"We're making the assumption that there will be flow in the Red River through the winter but that it could be quite low," explained Archibald.

A new, lower intake connected to a 300 horsepower electric pump has been installed on the Red at the Letellier treatment plant. As well, a new permanent connection has been installed underground running from the pump to the main line that runs from the river to the Oxbow reservoir. "That's our attempt to try and withstand the winter, as long as there's flow on the Red," said Archibald.

As well, a temporary intake remains an option at the water co-op's Morris treatment plant as the current intake continues to rise above river levels.

On that note, Archibald said the search is on for more sustainable intake sites along the Red River, noting a bathymetric study is in progress.

"We have people with an airboat going all the way from Emerson to north of Morris doing sonar and LIDAR, looking at all the levels, and looking for deep spots to see if we were to put temporary intakes in, where might we want to be so we can keep it fairly deep, and if there was only a small amount of flow in the river, we would still be ok to bridge the gap through the winter."

Archibald noted this data collection will dove-tail into vital upgrades slated for the Letellier plant thanks to recent federal/provincial infrastructure funding. The capital project includes a 4 million litre reservoir, a new pipeline, and a new intake. "We're trying to decide, with this bathymetric information, where would the best intake (spot) be?"

Contingency planning is also underway between the PVWC and the Manitoba Government to determine next steps should flows get too low to pull any water during the winter months.