Rafferty-Grant Devine Project
Residents of the Souris River Basin have long suffered from extreme variation in seasonal water flow. Such alternating cycles of drought and flood severely affected water users and limited future development in the area.
The Rafferty-Grant Devine Project (known as the Rafferty-Alameda Project before 2017) was developed over the 1988-95 period as a multi-purpose project to provide water for the area, including the Shand Power station near Estevan, and as flood protection for residents downstream in Saskatchewan and North Dakota, including the city of Minot. The project also ensures a more reliable water source is available for municipal, domestic, irrigation and recreational use in the Saskatchewan portion of the basin.
What is the Rafferty-Grant Devine Project?
The project consists of the Rafferty Reservoir on the Souris River near Estevan and Grant Devine Lake on the Moose Mountain Creek near Oxbow. It also includes a 10-kilometre diversion channel connecting Boundary and Rafferty Reservoirs, which allows water to be diverted from Boundary Reservoir into Rafferty Reservoir.
What is the capacity of the reservoirs?
The Full Supply Level of Rafferty Reservoir is 550.5 metres. At Full Supply Level the reservoir stores approximately 439,600 cubic decametres (dam3), while at the Maximum Allowable Flood Level (554 m), the reservoir has a capacity of 630,800 dam3.
Grant Devine Lake has Full Supply Level of 562.0 metres, with storage capacity at this level of 105,500 dam3. The Maximum Allowable Flood Level of the reservoir is 567.0 m, with a storage capacity of 188,400 dam3.
Who owns the Project?
The Water Security Agency owns the Rafferty-Grant Devine Project and is directly responsible for its operation and maintenance. The Water Security Agency also owns the Gardiner and Qu’Appelle River Dams on Lake Diefenbaker and 65 other dams throughout the province.