During its meeting on June 21, the International Lake Ontario – St. Lawrence River Board decided to maintain outflows at their current record-high levels, 367,270 cubic feet per second, for the next week considering there is very little capacity for passing water on the lower St. Lawrence River due to Lake St. Louis flooding conditions. Many areas around Montreal and Lake St. Louis still remain flooded presently.
Significant precipitation recently throughout the system has increased outflow from the Ottawa River into the lower St. Lawrence River. This has caused water levels on Lake St. Louis to rise to 73.56 feet again, only 2.4 inches below the levels causing significant flooding.
Before making their decision to maintain the current outflow, the board considered the impact of increased currents and flows on multiple stakeholders, and received testimony from various groups, such as shoreline owners, hydropower, municipal and industrial water uses, recreational and commercial navigation, ecosystems, and upstream and downstream conditions.
Even with high outflows, it is expected that Lake Ontario will remain stable or decline slowly for the next several weeks. The board continues to seek any opportunity to lower Lake Ontario faster than what is presently possible, and will be meeting again this week to review its regulation strategy.
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, and more detailed information is available on its website at https://www.ijc.org/en/loslrb.
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