The Arrow Lakes Reservoir has reached its peak elevation for the summer and has begun its annual draft.
The lake reached 436.8 metres at the Fauquier gauge on June 28. The high-water mark came about two weeks later than the mid-June peak BC Hydro had forecast back in April thanks to cooler weather throughout the spring.
The peak was also higher than the original forecast of 433.4-to-435.9 m.
However, this year's peak was lower than the 2023 peak of 439.06 m reached on June 23, 2023.
The reservoir reached its most recent low on Jan. 11 at 422.8 m.
As of July 15, the reservoir sits at 435.8 m. It is expected to draft by another metre over the next week and reach an elevation of 432.8 m by the end of July.
With Columbia Basin runoff for April to September expected to reach just 75 per cent of normal, it is likely to be another low-water year for Arrow Lakes. For the same period in 2023, the observed runoff was 83 per cent of normal.
Dry weather combined with Columbia River Treaty obligations resulted in record lows during 2023 leaving many lake users and property owners frustrated. Fish habitats were also impacted as low water levels stranded hundreds of fish.
On July 11, Canada and the United States announced that an "agreement-in-principle" to modernize the Columbia River Treaty had been reached, but specifics have yet to be announced.
The decades-old pact between the two countries provides flood-risk management and power generation in B.C. and the Pacific Northwest. It strongly influences the amount of water stored in the Columbia Basin's reservoirs and lakes.
The actual elevation of the reservoir is influenced by snowpack, inflow levels, weather patterns and other factors such as load requirements and BC Hydro cautions that forecasts can change at any time.
