South Saskatchewan River

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The University Bridge over the South Saskatchewan River at Saskatoon

The South Saskatchewan River (French: rivière Saskatchewan Sud) is a major river in Canada that flows through the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

For the first half of the 20th century, the South Saskatchewan would completely freeze over during winter, creating spectacular ice breaks and dangerous conditions in Saskatoon and elsewhere. At least one bridge in Saskatoon was destroyed by ice carried by the river. The construction of the Gardiner Dam in the 1960s, however, lessened the power of the river and by the 1980s many permanent sandbars had formed due to the lowering of the level of the river.

From the headwaters of the Bow River, the South Saskatchewan flows for 1,939 km^[1], and has a watershed of 335,900 km², 1,800 of which are inside Montana in the USA, and 121,095 km² in Alberta.^[2] At its mouth at Saskatchewan River Forks, it has an average discharge of 700 m³/s.

[edit] Course

The river originates at the confluence of the Bow and Oldman Rivers near Grassy Lake. The waters of these two rivers, in turn, originate from glaciers in the Rocky Mountains near the British Columbia border.

The river flows via Medicine Hat into Lake Diefenbaker, the reservoir created with the construction of the Gardiner and Qu'Appelle River dams in Saskatchewan. Water from the South Saskatchewan flowing through the dams provides much of the electricity in the province.

Downstream from the dam the river flows north through Saskatoon and joins the North Saskatchewan River east of Prince Albert at the Saskatchewan River Forks — thus forming the Saskatchewan River. For approximately 60 km near Saskatoon, the Meewasin Valley Authority is responsibily for conservation of the river environment.

Numerous lakes in the Saskatoon area were formed by oxbows of the South Saskatchewan River, most notably Moon Lake and Pike Lake.