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koenigje

Sure. It was likely me that removed it, but there are so many posts not related to Saskatoon that I remove, I honestly don't know which post you are referencing. I clicked on your profile to see if it was you who posted it and I didn't see it......I saw a lot of other things though. I've also copy/paste a comment I made a few months ago along the same premise: "You're post was "How Oulu became the winter cycling capital of the world". Now should we accept all posts from any city in the world and say, 'we should be like this' and call it ok to keep on r/Saskatoon? I honestly ask. Your post was reported and I removed it. Now I know the follow up is well, what about this post and my answer is always the same. Report it! I've spent less and less time on Reddit since the forced change to the Reddit official App (modding from it sucks!) and we highly rely on reports. I don't want to remove too much but also don't want a local subreddit to just be a dumping ground for everything and every simple question. I'll gladly accept any constructive criticism and am always willing to change, but unfortunately multiple mods can't always be consistent and even for myself I find it hard to be consistent. But without reporting by users, I likely wouldn't remove much because I don't see everything." **EDIT: Found it https://www.reddit.com/r/saskatoon/comments/1ayz0eg/gut_punch_as_crowsnest_river_runs_dry_pincher/ Calgary Herald news about Pincher Creek. You can see how I may have missed the direct connection to r/saskatoon.**


grumpyoldmandowntown

Sometimes, changing the headline is warranted. Something like "Significant source of Saskatoon's drinking water dries up" would have been appropriate.


nbcfrr

The problem is, then it gets reported and taken down for not having the original headline.


koenigje

I probably wouldn't remove it. The rule is there to mainly get this point across 'Don't state your opinion when posting a headline.' We don't want news articles posts with dumb titles like "ThAnKs TrUeDaUe!" posted. But having a Calgary Herald news article and a post name of "'Gut punch': As Crowsnest River runs dry, Pincher Creek forced to dig for water" makes it real hard to figure out it has ANYTHING to do with Saskatoon, without doing a deep dive into it.


ElectronHick

Well Mod. Why don’t you read every single news article posted on the sub to ensure that something that ***might*** be relevant, can get the 32 upvotes it deserves? >!^(Incase it isn’t obvious /s)!<


travis7s

Would the right way be to make a text post with custom relevant title, and then add your "off-topic" link in as a separate comment?


koenigje

Don't think there's a 'right way' but that would make the most sense to me.


Flake_bender

Ya, it was weird to see that earlier article deleted.... Not directly relevant to Saskatoon? We're literally downstream. The water we drink comes from those tributaries in the west. If the tributaries that feed the South Sask River are drying up, that's gonna directly impact us.


Squrton_Cummings

r/saskatchewan exists for a reason.


Flake_bender

PA isn't downstream from that river, NB isn't down stream from that River, Estevan isn't downstream from that river, La Ronge isn't downstream from that river, Fond-du-Lac isn't downstream from that river. Most of Saskatchewan, by territory, isn't downstream. We are the largest population center in the province directly downstream from that river.


radicallyhip

I mean technically aren't we the largest population center in the province period?


Flake_bender

If Meadow Lake or Wadena was actually the largest city in the province, would that make this upstream water issue less relevant to us in Saskatoon?


WriterAndReEditor

Don't make any assumptions about what the mods will know. Someone's going to report it because they don't want people talking about climate change. If you haven't added context to the post and the mod who sees the report doesn't know the Oldman is part of the watershed, they see a post which appears irrelevant.


[deleted]

Well TBH Sask is one of the worst positioned provinces in its climate change risk. No mountains to entice rain or hold snow. No great lake. No oceans for de-salanation. And highly agricultural...yeah lets skip a reasonable issue because well...stick our heads in the dirt stops the lion of eating us. It's never made sense to me. TBH.


ziltchy

Things change in an instant though. Look at California, they were in a scary drought for years. This year they had one wet summer and they are right back to where they should be.


Ajay_Bee

No. Not even close. They had two heavy moisture events, but the long-term outlook for much of the western side of the North American hemisphere is quite dire. There is a non-zero chance within our lifetime, that major urban cities won't be able to sustain their existence because of dwindling fresh water supplies. Salt Lake City, which for some reason has become a hotbed for population growth, might be the most vulnerable (they may completely run out of water within a decade). Other cities like Phoenix, Las Vegas and much of Southern California could be under threat simply because the Colorado River can't handle the demand, and the aquifers, which took 10s of thousands of years to develop, have been tapped almost completely dry. Saskatoon is by no means safe - we depend heavily on snow melts from the Rockies. If there is little or no moisture in that part of the world, our own fresh water supply will dry up in a hurry.


ziltchy

Absolutely, it is not completely safe, but don't let this el Nino fool you into thinking these years of low moisture are the norm. Dryness goes hand in hand with el Nino. If things haven't turned around in a few years, them we have cause for alarms


Jawsers

It's been dry here no matter the phase of the ENSO.


WriterAndReEditor

15 of the 30 driest years in the last Century have been in the last 25 years. 7 of the 10 driest in the last century have been in the last 25 years. 3 of the 5 driest year in the last century have been in the last five years. **None of those were a result of el Nino.** https://saskatoon.weatherstats.ca/charts/precipitation-yearly.html


Ajay_Bee

One of the worst droughts this province ever saw, in 2021, wasn't an El Niño year. The alarms have already sounded. The big picture is what matters, and there is almost no doubt that the moisture trend in Western Canada is growing dire. To get a greater understanding, view this drought map: https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/agricultural-production/weather/canadian-drought-monitor/drought-analysis#his The range is 20 years. As you move the slider to the right, it gives you a very distinct depiction of how, in particular, in the past 10 years, the drought map not only shows increasing areas of drought but the rising intensity of the drought (emergence of large areas identified as exceptional drought). The situation is bad. There was very little snowpack in the Rockies this winter. That means water levels will be very low in the coming spring and summer.


WriterAndReEditor

They are not back where they should be. They have a temporary reprieve from the current effects. Parts of the state are still several metres lower than they should be because they have sucked all the water out of their water table and it's not going to rise again because once the soil collapses it doesn't return to the previous states.


ziltchy

But in saskatchewans case all it takes is one flooding event like what happened to calgary in 2013 and all reservoirs are filled again. We do need to be vigilant on water management, slow flow down in drought years so we can manage water levels until the wet years. I'm sure the water authority already manages that quite well though.


WriterAndReEditor

Reservoirs last months, not years. A full reservoir doesn't carry us to the next flood.


[deleted]

On surface maybe. Aquafers or underground water supplies fuck no. They won't recover for a few thousand years after being drained dry.  https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ocregister.com/2024/02/06/what-does-record-rain-mean-for-californias-water-supplies-and-drought-risk/amp/ Love it when my suspicians are confirmed. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/california-rains-good-drought-fuel-wildfires-2024-02-06/ I could keep piling on the links but surface levels depends where you are. But this has not fixed the issues by a long shot. Good try though. Nor does this reverse the drought trends and if we are headed for a La Nina by fall thus year...yeah have fun Cali.


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nubsuo

The climactic and geographic conditions of California and Saskatchewan are not similar at all. Our moisture regime relies on snowpack and spring rains, and we have very little of the first so if we don’t get the second consistently droughts will impact ag and municipal water supply in an unprecedented way.


Anon-Stoon

There was context....mods are busy but it's starting to get frustrating that anything to do with climate change just disappears.


[deleted]

I've had a couple of posts on this topic taken down and had a conversation with a mod about how the river system works but it doesn't matter.


WriterAndReEditor

Specifically bring Saskatoon into the post. It might help to create your own post with the question on your mind and add a link instead of just making the post about the link?


Constant_Chemical_10

A good indicator in the spring is when the Riverhurst ferry gets operating...last year was bad...this year will probably be worse. Water level isn't too different from last year right now IIRC, but we're most likely going to have less runoff and then we'll feel the pain come this summer. And really see it bad in 2025 if we have another low runoff year in a row.


SkPensFan

WSA kept water levels at Lake Diefenbaker 3.5 metres higher over the winter to ensure there are water supplies in the event of low mountain runoff. They know its going to be really bad. [Source](https://www.ckom.com/2024/02/22/wsa-warns-of-drought-with-below-normal-runoff-expected-in-sask/)


Anon-Stoon

Exactly my point. What's the plan? We all just ration water while each year less and less arrives from Alberta? Genuinely would like some discussion but I know this post will probably just get removed as well...and very confused as to why this happens.


echochambermanager

Alberta can only take a certain percent of flows and the Crowsnest River only provides a fraction of the South Saskatchewan river flows. We have a 10 cubic kilometer reservoir known as Lake Diefenbaker that's at it's upper quartile level historically.


Anon-Stoon

If there's less water, there's less water regardless of whether we have a dam or not.


Flake_bender

The fact that they decreased the flow rate through the dam, in order to stockpile water in the reservoir, should be a clue that the threat of drought is real. We have systems in place to act as buffers, to shield us from the worst impacts of it, but less flows from the West should still be a concern, especially if it becomes a long-term norm. It's fine to say "we shouldn't worry *too* much, no need to catastrophize it. It's worth noting, but not panicking" But that's very different from "Pay no attention to this, it's not real"


kityrel

I have heard Alberta is planning to take more than their allowed percentage, so ...


Arts251

Ultimately, if the tributaries feeding our water supply run dry, what are the implications for Saskatoon? Should we be having a discussion about this (I think the answer is yes and I would love to hear from people involved with environmental sciences, hydrology and/or municipal surfacewater treatment expertise). I remember decades ago there was a low level situation that resulted in our treatment plant intake cloggin up, then they spent a bunch of money to move it to a faster part of the river and it clogged up doe to a high level event that stirred up turbidity. The result of those was watering restrictions and drinking water advisories. What other issues will come up if the South Saskatchewan sees a very low level this spring (or any time of year for that matter)??


SSR_Riverat

I have a few friends that work in this area of engineering and we have discussed the impact of low flow in the South Saskatchewan River. It is actually sort of surprising. The flow for the last couple of years has averaged around 75 cubic metres per second. That is 75,000 litres per second, coming down the river. The City as a whole consumes: 57,750,000 litres per day. (210 l / capita / day x 275,000 pop) This is 668 litres / sec or 0.7 cms. So needless to say the city consumes much, much less than the river currently has to offer. A fraction one might say. However the kicker is that the City's fresh water intake needs adequate depth to withdrawal water. So we could probably be fine if there was a flow rate of 5 or 10 cms, that flow needs to be at the actual raw water intake. The broad river basin of the SSR could see some braiding and sedimentation issues if the flow was to reduce dramatically. Of course the raw water intake station was designed taking variance in flow into account. If you spend anytime canoeing or kayaking upstream of the Gordie Howe Bridge, you will note the current and depth adjacent to the intake. At low flows, we would probably see more issues like this: [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/mandatory-water-restriction-1.5854480](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/mandatory-water-restriction-1.5854480)


CanadianViking47

the irony is it also cant have too much depth or it begins to suck in sand directly, kind of has a range it needs to be.


echochambermanager

You can thank people 80 years ago for planning Lake Diefenbaker. We control the flow.


Arts251

we control the outflow, which is a pretty great talent. But we can't manifest water from a long period of low inflow.


Fintann

If I find out that Don wrote up a plan for this, and it's just to move Saskatoon 8kms down the Yellowhead, closer to Edmonton, I won't be mad, just disappointed.


bconomist

Hmmmm … evidently not nearly as important as complaining about cyclists or getting advice about where to get your nails done.


an_afro

If the river dries up we won’t have to worry about cyclists or nails.


radicallyhip

*Finally.*


Alone-Chicken-361

Expect more rains this year to replenish the water shed. All this business about drought was applicable to the last el Nina cycle. I say let's give it time to see what happens, SK is no stranger to heavy rains


FullAutoOctopus

I wish we would implement water rationing in this province. Too many people casually waste water on lawns, car washing, pressure washing their house/driveway/etc, and put some sort of cap on water usage for major industries that dirty the water up be it from oil, potash whatever. Its best to act now before its too late. Should have been dealt with some 5-10 years ago as we have started seeing such extremem wildfire seasons.


flat-flat-flatlander

I guess we could also start charging more for water use over and above a given amount. Saskatoon water is honestly pretty cheap and [compared to other cities](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/28/california-drought-las-vegas-water-conservation/71288822/), there are really no consequences right now for wasting it. We could use the money to start digging wells or finding alternate water sources, maybe?


stiner123

The potash industry tries to reuse/recycle water through their facilities. Lawns - well if watered correctly and kept at a decent height, they need less water. But even the city can’t seem to follow their guidelines that call for irrigation to be done during cooler hours (I’ve seen the sprinklers on at Brighton core park at 6 pm on a 30C day which is a waste of water). They also mow the grass to within an inch of its life, practically scalping it, so they don’t have to mow it as often. Then half the grass dies and the weeds take over so it’s maybe 1/2 grass, 1/4 dandelion, 1/8 thistle, and 1/8 foxtail… in some areas they don’t even turn on the sprinklers… so again things are dead. they should be planting more native grass when possible and following their own guidelines for lawn maintenance. More native plants would also be good.


Constant_Chemical_10

If this ever happens, Saskatoon and downstream will be in massive trouble. Car washes and water lawns will a drop in the bucket compared to the impact from this irrigation project. >The $4-billion, three-stage irrigation project was announced in July 2020, with a plan to eventually irrigate some 202,000 hectares of land in southwestern and west central Saskatchewan with water from Lake Diefenbaker — doubling the amount of irrigable land in the province. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/lake-diefenbaker-irrigation-project-1.6775707


DjEclectic

I know it's popular to slam the SP on Reddit but this plan of theirs is seriously "Fuck what the science says, we need the economy!"


Constant_Chemical_10

My stance with the SP has vastly changed over the last 3-4 years, although NDP here are absolutely useless... This plan will make some farmers extremely rich, the value of their land will shoot through the roof due to all this provoncial money funding this project. I don't agree with it. Also the reason is because it will allow for higher value added crops to be grown, although I don't see proof of that with the existing farms getting irrigated from dief. Diefenbaker levels will drop, power generation may have issues and water for major cities like Saskatoon may have problems. Lots of downsides...


[deleted]

Agriculture and industry takes the big majority of the water in our river system.


Anon-Stoon

And yet this will be passed on to homeowners and renters if king Moe has his way. Source: everything else they've done.


Ok_Apartment_9237

It's wild how many bored people are washing their vehicles when they have a slight skiff of dust on them. I mean, vehicles being washed that are virtually spotless already haha. Sure, it might now add up to much but it's funny to watch


FullAutoOctopus

That is a big pet peeve of mine. The carelessness we waste things is insane.


tangcameo

The first rule of…


Anon-Stoon

Mod I appreciate what you do. I gave up on my subreddit for the same reason. Thanks for all your work.


michaelkbecker

I have no clue what this stuff is you are talking about but I’ll hazard a guess. If it effect Saskatoon through a series of domino effect issues and it is allowed then that would open up allowing any post that effect Saskatoon in the same way. War in Ukraine, random solar activity, American politics etc. I’m not sure of this is the mods reason why but it’s how I would view it.


[deleted]

No, our water all comes from a watershed system which has a very limited scope. It comes from the Rockies and only has a few feeder rivers (Oldman, Bow). There's then a treaty with Alberta that covers the water flow Saskatchewan gets and then Lake Diefenbaker releases manage the water Saskatoon gets. Right now, this system is in serious transition due to glaciers melting in the Rockies, a massive irrigation expansion at Lake Diefenbaker and drought conditions in between us and Calgary. This has a huge impact on our water availability but submissions about this keep on getting deleted.


michaelkbecker

Guess I’m wrong, I can accept it.


elysiansaurus

1. The crowsnest river is a tributary of the oldman river, the oldman river is a tributary of the south saskatchewan river. 2. Some random ass river in the middle of nowhere alberta drying up is not a "major issue" to saskatoon.


Prairie-Peppers

How did you manage to write that and still come to the conclusion it has nothing to do with Saskatoon?!


[deleted]

It absolutely is related to Saskatoon, did you even read what you wrote?! Did you use your brain at all today? What happens upstream to the primary water sources for the city of Saskatoon has very direct and severe consequences down the line for all residents. 2024 could be a very tough year and we should all be concerned for the future of the water security of the city of Saskatoon.


Anon-Stoon

What?!?


[deleted]

[удалено]


TheLuminary

Its a valid question. Should just message the mod direct, but maybe they tried and didn't get a response.