Dams and Hydroelectric Development
A number of dams have been planned and constructed on the North Saskatchewan River and its tributaries. No singular purpose has dominated dam planning in the basin, indeed, hydroelectric development, flood control, and water diversion schemes have all underpinned proposals to construct dams on the river.
Planned dams
The first hydroelectric development on the North Saskatchewan was planned in 1910 near the Town of Drayton Valley. Funding for the plan came from a British syndicate; design and construction were to be carried out by the Edmonton Hydro-Electric Power Scheme. The development was shelved after the outbreak of World War I.
The La Colle Falls hydroelectric project east of Prince Albert was a half-built failure. Construction began in the 1910s and was later abandoned. The city remained in debt from financing the project until 1960, and the site still attracts tourists today.
During the 1960s and 1970s, a major dam was planned on the North Saskatchewan near the Hamlet of Hairy Hill, Alberta, about 100 miles (160 km) downstream from Edmonton. This dam was part of a larger water diversion scheme conceived by the Alberta Government to transfer water from the Peace, Smoky, and Athabasca rivers to the Saskatchewan River Basin.
The planned dam had a maximum height of 212 feet (65 m), with a crest length of 5,760 feet (1.76 km), which would have created a reservoir capable of holding over 4,000,000 acre feet (4.9 km3) of water. The reservoir would have affected municipal water works in the City of Fort Saskatchewan, was likely to inundate part of the Saddle Lake Indian Reserve, and would have flooded a number of oil and natural gas fields in the area. The plan was later shelved in light of economic and environmental concerns.
Constructed dams
The Bighorn Dam was constructed near Nordegg and created Lake Abraham, one of the largest reservoirs in Alberta. The dam was constructed in 1971 by Transalta.
One of the North Saskatchewan's major tributaries, the Brazeau River, houses the Brazeau Hydroelectric Dam. The Brazeau Dam is Alberta's largest hydroelectric facility, and was built in 1965 by Transalta.
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