Saskatoon's Prairie Lily riverboat cancels all summer voyages due to low water levels
This would have been the Prairie Lily’s 14th year cruising on the South Saskatchewan River
Extremely low water levels in the South Saskatchewan River have left one of Saskatoon's biggest tourist attractions high and dry.
The Prairie Lily riverboat usually cruises the river, giving tours of Saskatoon and the Meewasin Valley. This year, low water levels and sandbars have made it too dangerous. With low water levels and build-ups of silt changing the riverbed's ecosystem, the boat's owners say they won't be able to run any cruises for the entire summer season.
Joan Steckhan, the co-owner of the Prairie Lily is still hopeful for business, even if it's not out on the river.
"I challenge anybody to have a nicer venue, a better patio deck and the ship, the view," Steckhan said. "We thought people loved this ship, so even if we can't sail, we still have dinners, we've still got brunches, we've still got wine tastings, we've started having dockside drinks."
With a significant lack of precipitation in Alberta, the water level in Lake Diefenbaker has caused the Water Security Agency to keep flow through the Gardiner Dam low for the fifth consecutive year. One significant rain event in late June brought some hope in raising the levels, but it wasn't enough to increase the flow at the dam from 70 cubic metres, which is about half of the annual average.
"From a tourism perspective, Discover Saskatoon does this really great job of promoting the river," Steckhan said. "What we have is such a unique setting here in Saskatoon and unfortunately that isn't available. So a lot of what we do to sell this city has been damaged."
In May, Steckhan's company called for the Water Security Agency (WSA) to release more water into the river to allow for the Prairie Lily to embark.
WSA president and CEO Shawn Jaques said this week that the low-flow water conditions don't affect much other than navigation on the river.
"We would like to see more water coming into Lake Diefenbaker to help increase the flows on the South Saskatchewan River," Jaques said. "Without the dam, there would have been a period of time for probably over a month where it would have been down to about 50 cubic meters per second because that's all that was flowing on the Saskatchewan River, but because of the storage in the lake, we were able to release a bit more."
Jaques said having enough water for human consumption and irrigation outweighs recreation.
"I know there are some activities impacted and I do realize through the city of Saskatoon, the water level is lower than we would all like to see it," said Jaques. "I think it has a low impact on those ecosystems and fish populations."
Steckhan said that this was already planned to be their last season at the ship's helm and that she is still hoping to sell the riverboat.
"If we can manage a sale, Captain Mike [Steckhan] and I are still committed to working with a future owner, working next year, hoping that the River Valley does get the attention it needs and making sure that Saskatoon in Saskatchewan still has a really fun attraction to continue into the future."
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