St. Lawrence River Board (Board) will continue to increase outflows to provide relief to shoreline interests on Lake Ontario after it agreed to raise flows above the regulation plan’s maximum L-Limit, considered to be the safe threshold for commercial navigation.
Outflows reached 10,200 m3/s (360,200 cfs) yesterday and the Board will commence incrementally raising outflows by 50 m3/s (1,760 cfs) per day on Monday, June 10th. Outflows will be increased by 50 m3/s (1,760 cfs) increments until 10,400 m3/s (367,270 cfs) is reached on 13 June, 2019. 10,400 m3/s is the maximum flow that was attained in 2017 and the maximum sustained flow on record. The St. Lawrence Seaway has been advised of this strategy. The Board will also continue to explore further increases based on conditions within the system at that time.
The purpose of increasing outflows incrementally is threefold: 1. Lake St. Louis remains above the final F-limit tier and is still in flood; 2. to provide time to put further mitigation measures in place; 3. and to keep Lake St. Lawrence levels from undue drop while OPG repairs a crane at Iroquois Dam.
Information on hydrologic conditions, water levels and outflows, including graphics and photos, are available on the Board’s website and posted to the Board’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/InternationalLakeOntarioStLawrenceRiverBoard (English), and more detailed information is available here.
