News

March 03, 2017

Deep Freeze Slows Runoff

Cold temperatures have slowed runoff and will cause declining water levels in watershed lakes and streams through the weekend. There is enough water moving through the system from the melt and rain that flows are still increasing in some tributaries. This will tail off today and levels can be expected to decline through the weekend. Weather forecasts indicate another warmup with some rain next week that could cause flows to increase again. The warm temperatures and increased flows caused the ice on all waterbodies to become unstable. With refreezing occurring, new ice will be forming. However, it will take a…

Published in Watershed Conditions Statements

February 27, 2017

Potential for Low-Lying Areas to be Flooded

Warm temperatures and rain could cause water levels to threaten access to lower lying communities. This message applies particularly to Hilly Lane, Cedar Beach and Rideau Glen and other small communities along the Long Reach of the Rideau River near Kemptville that are susceptible to flooding. The Hilly Lane community could start to have water encroaching on the access road by Wednesday as a result of above zero temperatures melting the remaining snow and a two-day total rainfall of as much as 20 millimetres. Fortunately, temperatures are forecast to fall below freezing by Wednesday night which can be expected to…

Published in Watershed Conditions Statements

February 21, 2017

Live 88.5 Carbon Neutral Forest Grows

Canada’s first and only carbon neutral radio station continues in its efforts to plant trees and maintain its efforts to offset carbon emissions. Ottawa’s LiVE 88.5 FM will see another 5,700 trees planted in the southern Ottawa area to offset the carbon dioxide produced annually at their Ottawa broadcast centre. This brings their total to 39,900 trees planted since they decided to go carbon neutral in 2011. This adds up to over 20 hectares (50 acres) of forest. “LiVE 88.5 is proud to work with the RVCF to help grow and manage our expanding forest,” said Dan Youngs, Live 88.5…

Published in Media Release

February 17, 2017

Warming Trend Expected to Cause Unsafe Conditions

Daytime temperatures above freezing forecast for the weekend and into next week will cause melting and increased levels on watercourses throughout the Rideau River watershed. Above freezing temperatures will cause ice and snow melt over the next several days. There is sufficient snow on the ground in the lower part of the watershed to absorb most of the meltwater. However, areas to the south and west of the City of Ottawa, where there has been less snowfall, can be expected to have more runoff. In all cases, the ice cover can be expected to become unstable to various extents with…

Published in Watershed Conditions Statements

January 19, 2017

Drought Condition Downgraded to Minor

The drought status in the Rideau River watershed is being downgraded to “Minor” because the recent warm temperatures and precipitation have caused flows to increase significantly in watershed streams.Rain and snowmelt have caused flows in some streams to approach and, in some cases, exceed the long-term historical average flows. Kemptville Creek had low flows of .028 cubic metres per second (cms), 1.5% of average, in mid-October. Occasional thaws with rain since then have caused flows to increase in all streams and fluctuate around the average. Kemptville Creek flows have been consistently elevated since December 27 and reached three times the…

Published in Watershed Conditions Statements

December 15, 2016

Drought Condition Downgraded to Moderate

The drought status in the Rideau River watershed is being downgraded to “Moderate” because recent precipitation has generally increased flows in area streams. Kemptville Creek flows are about 130% of the historical average, or normal, for the time of year as a result of October rain and November snowmelt. Other recorded streamflows are above 60% of normal which has led to the downgrade of the drought status. However, the Tay River out of Bobs Lake has not had the same precipitation and is at only 10% of the normal flow. This indicates that the drought is not fully over despite…

Published in Watershed Conditions Statements