River Basins
The lake is primarily fed by Lake Winnipegosis to its northwest via the Waterhen River, with an average annual contribution of 1,900,000 acre feet (2.3 km3). The Whitemud River and local overland flow average about 257,000 acre feet (317,000,000 m3). Precipitation contributes about 1,800,000 acre feet (2.2 km3). From 1970 to 2003 the Portage Diversion has contributed an average annual volume of 246,800 acre feet (304,400,000 m3) from the Assiniboine River. Lake Manitoba drains northeast into Lake Winnipeg through the Fairford River to Lake St. Martin and then to the Dauphin River. The average annual river outflow is 2,030,000 acre feet (2.50 km3). Average evaporation is 2,020,000 acre feet (2.49 km3) per year. Most of the water inflow is from the Waterhen River (42% of the inflow) and from precipitation directly on the lake's surface (40%), while nearly 50% of the outflow is by evaporation. This explains its hyposaline nature.
Read more about this topic: Lake Manitoba
Famous quotes containing the word river:
“This ferry was as busy as a beaver dam, and all the world seemed anxious to get across the Merrimack River at this particular point, waiting to get set over,—children with their two cents done up in paper, jail-birds broke lose and constable with warrant, travelers from distant lands to distant lands, men and women to whom the Merrimack River was a bar.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)