Moosomin Lake, also known as Moosomin Reservoir, is a

man-made lake A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including control ...

in south-eastern part of the Canadian province of

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

. Created by the damming of

Pipestone Creek Pipestone Creek is a waterway that runs through central Alberta, Canada. For example, over of Pipestone Creek parkland is situated in Millet, Alberta, with a combination of meadows and urban forest. It originates east of Pigeon Lake and flows ea ...

in 1954, Moosomin Lake is located about south of the town of Moosomin and is in the

Souris River The Souris River (; french: rivière Souris) or Mouse River (as it is alternatively known in the U.S., a calque of its French name) is a river in central North America. It is about in length and drains about . It rises in the Yellow Grass Mars ...

watershed. The reservoir's uses include irrigation, water supply, and recreation. Moosomin Lake Regional Park is on lake's western shore. The town of Moosomin gets its drinking water from wells alongside the lake. From the wells, the water is piped to town. In 2011, much of the Souris River watershed flooded in a greater-than- one-in-a-hundred year flood event. While the well shacks are a few feet higher than the normal water level in Moosomin Lake, due to the rising water levels,

sandbag A sandbag or dirtbag is a bag or sack made of hessian (burlap), polypropylene or other sturdy materials that is filled with sand or soil and used for such purposes as flood control, military fortification in trenches and bunkers, shielding gl ...

s had to be used around the wells to protect them from being contaminated. After the waters receded, permanent three-foot clay dykes were built at the well site to protect the wells from future potential flooding.

Geology

Moosomin Lake sits in the Pipestone Valley, which was created about 15,000 years ago with the melting of the last ice age. The valley was cut by the melting waters from glacial Lake Indian Head and is called the Pipestone Spillway.

Moosomin Dam

The construction of Moosomin Dam () along the Pipestone Creek began in 1953 and work was completed by November 1954. It is an earth-filled embankment dam located at the south-east corner of Moosomin Lake that is high with an uncontrolled overflow concrete spillway and a gated riparian outlet. The maximum discharge capacity is per second. The total length of the reservoir when full is long with a total storage capacity of . The total amount of land flooded for the reservoir is .

Moosomin Lake Regional Park

Moosomin Lake Regional Park () opened up in 1955 along the western shore of the lake. The

regional park A regional park is an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreational use or other reason, and under the administration of a form of local government. Definition A regional park can be a special park distri ...

is about from the town of Moosomin and can be accessed from Highway 709, which is just off Highway 8. The park features camping, swimming, and boating. There are 125 serviced campsites plus unserviced over-flow sites. The beach area of the park has a sandy beach, a picnic area, and a playground. There are also boat launches and a marina that was built in 2015. Just outside the park, to the east near the dam and along Highway 8, is the 9-hole Pipestone Hills Golf Course.

References

{{Authority control Lakes of Saskatchewan Water management authorities Dams in Saskatchewan Protected areas of Saskatchewan

Geology

Moosomin Dam

Moosomin Lake Regional Park

See also

References