Saskatoon's White-water Wonderland: Picture This!

Pelican Watch attended a meeting about the proposed white water park and hydro dam last week. Here is something of what we learned.

Dam and white water playground proponents are still considering a couple of different versions of the two projects, but essentially this is how the redeveloped weir might look.

On the west side, there’ll be a small channel containing a fish ladder. Water would pass through here, as it does now, only in a very narrow channel. This is a good thing; we’re all for the safe passage of fish from one side of the weir to the other.

On the east side (the University side), adjacent to the bank, there will be a cement channel for the white water park, and beside it, the hydro dam that might generate enough power to sell to 3000 houses per year (this is a guesstimate, of course). The white water park as originally designed was too close to the railway bridge and CP apparently didn’t want a rush of water hitting their bridge, so the beginning of the white water channel will be ahead of the weir, and a cement wall on the west side of the channel will make this possible.

Are you excited about the aesthetic value of all this cement? Neither are we. If only we owned a cement factory, we might be more thrilled.

Now to the other “feature” of the redesigned weir, the hydro turbines. These will be mostly submerged and will be adjacent to the white water course; the turbine "house" may have a green roof, which fisher-folk might be able to fish from. This dam may or may not include an extremely ugly black inflatable rubber thingy that would stretch across the river in order to raise the height of the water by a meter and thus increase the measly amount of electrical generation by another measly bit.

Will this dam cause Goose Island, the Bird Sanctuary just south of the weir, to be partially or totally eroded? Nobody knows—the study of the effects of raising the water level are not yet completed. But it seems likely that the geese and other birds won’t want to hang out with white water thrill seekers, that the passage of boats near the island, as well as the raised water levels, might permanently disrupt the only place on the river within the city limits where birds are protected from human intrusion.

Got the picture so far?

In between the fish ladder on the west side and the submerged hydro turbines and white water course on the east, there will be the barrier (ie the dam itself) which will either have no water flowing over it or a thin film of water for “aesthetic purposes.” This stretch will be composed of the original weir, though we might be excused for not recognizing it as such. We haven’t been able to figure out how the optional black rubber dam fits in. Will it straddle the weir? Kind of like a large, thick black rubber bandage?

Anyone excited at the prospect of a large black rubber dam that inflates and deflates depending on the water flow? Or does the phrase "the uglification of the river" spring to mind?

So what will we have to look at down at the weir, those of us who don’t want to be “spectators” while inner tube riders and kayakers and rafters shoot down over the fake rapids over and over and over again?

Pelicans. Yes, that’s right, they claim there will be pelicans in the same body of water with all that action. Apparently, some unnamed experts claim this is so. Even though the website for the redeveloped Calgary Weir, the Harvie Passage, says “The Pelicans will likely disperse up and down stream.” And this project is being worked on by the same American white water company consulting with the Saskatoon white water enthusiasts. So these two very different answers are a bit confusing.

So if, for some reason, the pelicans dispute the idea that they want to fish beside a stream of boats and inner tubes and rafts, with all the attendant exuberance and noise, then Saskatonians will come down to the weir to do what, watch fisherman fish, perhaps, by the fish ladder? And try not to notice that all the water that used to cascade over the weir in a beautiful, peaceful, translucent sheet, is now being forced out the far side in a highly unnatural looking torrent over phony rapids?

(And how many kayaks, tubes, rafts will go down the channel every day of the summer? Well, no one has been able to answer that question for us. The white water park in Reno, Nevada--mentioned as an example of an economic boom by the pro-white water folks--apparently rented 10,000 inner tubes in a three-month period. That’s over 100 happy tube riding folks per day. First you strip and get into your swimsuit to go shooting down the river in a tube, then you get dressed again and go lose your shirt at the Blackjack table. What an admirable culture; a natural model for Saskatoon to follow.)

Sorry for the digression. Sometimes we get carried away.

Back to picturing the new “improved” weir. Can you see what we see? Our slow, calm, dignified, steadily flowing river, a river that is wide but often not very deep, contorted into a narrow fast flowing channel for the pleasure of some unknown but doubtless very small percentage of the Saskatoon population?

Is this what we want, Saskatoon? To change the character of our river permanently? To give up one of the few contemplative spots easily accessible by car and frequently photographed by visitors to our city? For what, a park right in the river? Isn't this pre-global warming thinking? Believing we can have everything we want without an environmental cost? Believing we can have white water rafting galore and pelicans too?

Well, fellow pelicanistas, you’ll have the summer to think about this. Pelican Watch is going on hiatus for the rest of the warm weather. In the fall, we’ll be back to gear up some much more organized opposition to this 40-million-dollar folly.

Stay cool, and don’t forget to visit the weir now and again. Where—at least for now— pelicans are free, and the sight of them, so close, yet undisturbed, is priceless.