The Fairford River is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It flows out of the North end of

Lake Manitoba Lake Manitoba (french: Lac Manitoba) is the List of lakes of Canada, 14th largest lake in Canada and the List of lakes by area, 33rd largest lake in the world with a total area of . It is located within the Provinces and territories of Canada, Cana ...

into

Lake Pineimuta A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

and

Lake St. Martin Lake St. Martin is a lake in the Interlake region of Manitoba, Canada on Treaty 2 Land. The Lake is situated between Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg. Lake St. Martin is downstream from the Fairford River with its Fairford River Control Structure ...

. Regulation of

dates back to the late 1890s and in 1961 the dam on the river, the Fairford River Water Control Structure (FRWCS) was completed to control outflows. The 1961 works also included widening and deepening of the channel, particularly between Lake Manitoba and the dam, more than tripling the capacity when the lake is at a level of above sea level. In times of low water, outflows from Lake Manitoba into the Fairford River are reduced, while during high water levels the gates of the control structure are open to allow water to run down the river and into Lake Pinemuta and Lake St. Martin before eventually ending up in Lake Winnipeg via the

Dauphin River The Dauphin River is a river of Manitoba, Canada. The Dauphin is part of the connection from Lake Manitoba to Lake Winnipeg Lake Winnipeg (french: Lac Winnipeg, oj, ᐑᓂᐸᑲᒥᐠᓴᑯ˙ᑯᐣ, italics=no, Weenipagamiksaguygun) is a ver ...

. Using the Fairford Dam, the water levels are to be regulated between above sea level. The average annual outflow from Lake Manitoba into the Fairford River between 1972 and 2001 was . During the

2011 Assiniboine River flood The 2011 Assiniboine River flood was caused by above average precipitation in Western Manitoba and Saskatchewan. This was a 1 in 300 year flood that affected much of Western Manitoba. The flooding in Manitoba was expected to mostly involve the 20 ...

, at the peak, the Fairford River took on record flows of about . Fairford River Water Control Structure

References

{{authority control Rivers of Manitoba

See also

References