An ‘interesting’ summer: Heavy rain in June, July revives reservoir water levels

Water levels in southern Alberta’s reservoirs are continuing to hold steady as we head into September.

The Oldman Reservoir has a current storage of 67 per cent, while the St. Mary Reservoir is at its normal level of 70 per cent.

The City of Lethbridge is describing this summer as “an interesting one.”

Heading into the summer, the city says things looked somewhat grim, water-wise, but heavy rain throughout June and July brought levels back to normal.

The province downgraded drought conditions from stage 3 to stage 1 this year, compared to stage 4 last summer.

“Speaking with Alberta Environment and Protected Areas, they’re actually projecting for fall, by mid-October, the reservoir to be between 54 and 60 per cent full,” said Mark Svenson, City of Lethbridge environment manager.

“While this is still just below normal, it’s substantially better than we were looking at or anticipating earlier in the season, so that’s a win for us.”

The city says if the Rocky Mountains receive a normal snowpack this winter, conditions next spring and summer will look much better.