Water in N.W.T.'s Great Slave Lake is now so low, some houseboats won't float
CBC
Martin Rehak isn't quite sure what to make of it yet, as he sees some of the houseboats around him on Yellowknife Bay sitting on ground that's normally underwater.
His own home is still afloat.
"I don't know if it's supposed to be concerning or not," he said. "I mean, it's different — but I don't know if it is good or bad."
"There's at least two or three [houseboats] right now, I could think of off the top of my head, who normally would be floating but are sitting on the floor of the lake."
According to the latest water monitoring report, issued by the territorial government last week, Great Slave Lake is the lowest it's ever been recorded at this time of year. The low water means there are vast areas of exposed land in Yellowknife Bay that are typically underwater.
Rehak has been living on Yellowknife Bay for more than eight years and he estimates the water is up to a metre lower than what he is used to.
"Let's say normally your houseboat is just surrounded by water, and normally in the summertime you're going to boat or canoe up to it — but now it's sitting on the ground, and you have like three feet from your houseboat to where you park your boat and you got to walk through mud," he said.
"It's going to be a whole thing."
This is the second year of extreme low water in many parts of the N.W.T.
Right now, flow rates on the Slave River and many parts of the Mackenzie River are the lowest they've ever been recorded. The Liard River is also seeing a below-average flow rate, and the Hay River and Kakisa River are also lower than they've ever been recorded.
Territorial hydrologist Ryan Connon offers a simple explanation.
"The two-word answer would be 'extreme drought,'" he said. "Drought that has started in the summer of 2022, and it's sort of persisted here since then."
The relative lack of precipitation over the last couple of years, combined with extreme high temperatures, mean that water has been evaporating away without being replenished by rain or snow.
Looking at the vast areas of now-exposed shoreline on Great Slave Lake, Connon acknowledges that it's "quite shocking."
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This First Person article is the experience of Kristine Thoreson, who lives in Calgary. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ.