The Mékinac Dam was built between 2010-2011 on the

Mékinac River The Mékinac river is a located in the RCM Mekinac Regional County Municipality, in the administrative region of Mauricie, the province of Quebec, in Canada. This river of Middle Mauricie has played an important role in the forestry industry at ...

, creating

Mékinac Lake The Mékinac Lake is a large lake of freshwater of province of Quebec (Canada), located mainly in the municipality Trois-Rives, in Mekinac Regional County Municipality, in the administrative region of Mauricie, in the province of Quebec, in Ca ...

in the municipality of Trois-Rives, in the

Mékinac Regional County Municipality Mékinac () is a regional county municipality (MRC) in the administrative region of Mauricie, in the province of Quebec, Canada. Its seat is Saint-Tite. It is composed of 10 municipalities and 4 unorganized territories. Toponymy According to th ...

(RCM) in administrative region of

Mauricie Mauricie () is a traditional and current administrative region of Quebec. La Mauricie National Park is contained within the region, making it a prime tourist location. The region has a land area of 35,860.05 km² (13,845.64 sq mi) and a popu ...

, in the

province of Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen p ...

, in

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 ...

. Water flow through the dam into the Mékinac River which empties 26 km further, into the

Saint-Maurice River The Saint-Maurice River (french: Rivière Saint-Maurice; Atikamekw: ''Tapiskwan sipi'') flows north to south in central Quebec from Gouin Reservoir to empty into the Saint Lawrence River at Trois-Rivières, in the province of Quebec, in Canada. F ...

at Saint-Roch-de-Mékinac in Middle Mauricie. The dam is located about seven miles northeast of the village of Saint-Joseph-de-Mékinac and creates Mekinac tank (corresponding to

), with a holding capacity 95,317,615 m³. The area of the tank is 2 296.8 ha. While the catchment area of 877.5 km² This dam that was designed by Hydro-Quebec, has a length of 122 m., a height of 6.8 m., a retention height of 4.2 m. and a maximum discharge capacity of 232 m³/s. The recro-tourism activities are very intense on this large body of water. The main purpose of the Mekinac dam is to regulate the water in

and consequently the

, down to the hydro-dam of Grand-Mère,

Shawinigan Shawinigan () is a city located on the Saint-Maurice River in the Mauricie area in Quebec, Canada. It had a population of 49,349 as of the 2016 Canadian census. Shawinigan is also a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) an ...

and La Gabelle.

History

Dam built in 1971 The dam built in 1971 consisted of wooden boxes and has a length of 80 meters. Dam built in 2010-2011 From August 2010 until early 2011, the "Mekinac dam", located at the head of the

, was completely rebuilt by the construction firm CRT Quebec, which had won the contract from Hydro-Quebec, because this infrastructure was coming to the end of its lifespan. For the purposes of the construction, the water level was lowered of 2.5 m., compared to its usual level. Vacationers (about 170 chalets in the area), campers and boaters saw then floats settle on the sandy beaches. Then the old dam was demolished. The new dam whose longevity is estimated at 50 years, has two tailings dams, built with stone. The dam has a spillway located in its center, built of steel girders and concrete.

Toponymy

The name "Mekinac dam" (barrage Mékinac, in French) was officially registered with the Bank of place names at

Commission de toponymie du Québec The Commission de toponymie du Québec (English: ''Toponymy Commission of Québec'') is the Government of Québec's public body responsible for cataloging, preserving, making official and publicize Québec's place names and their origins according ...

(Geographical Names Board of Québec), on June 6, 1973.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mekinac dam Dams in Quebec Geography of Mauricie Mékinac Regional County Municipality

History

Toponymy

See also

References