WATCH: An agreement between the province and TransAlta to partly drain Ghost Lake reservoir is leaving business owners and recreational users upset at the lack of lake. Mia Sosiak reports.
CALGARY – The Ghost Lake reservoir west of Cochrane has shrunk significantly, leaving docks and boat launches stranded on shore this summer.
It’s because of an agreement between the province and the owner of the Ghost Dam, TransAlta, to lower reservoir levels to help handle any potential flooding this spring. Levels were lowered by two metres last year as a pilot project and then raised again. This year, they will be lowered by six metres. Draining much of the water from Ghost Lake will free up 65,000,000 cubic metres of storage to handle any surge in the Bow River upstream from Calgary.
The province says if the worst happens, the move could prevent hundreds of millions of dollars in flood damage.
But businesses say lowering reservoir levels comes at a cost to them. Mike Weinert, who owns the of Ghost Lake Recreations marina and campground, is concerned he could lose his business.
“Devastating to recreational boating on Ghost Lake,” said Weinert.
“Devastating to my business and to my friends and family that use the facility. It’s horrible for us.”
The Alberta government is paying TransAlta $2 million in compensation because lower water levels mean less power generation, but there’s no compensation plan for other businesses that are affected.
“Certainly as we move forward, if we have a similar agreement for next year, that will be a consideration as well,” said Alberta Environment spokesperson Jason Penner. “We do want to minimize the impacts to recreational use as much as we can.”
The plan is to keep the water levels low until July 7, but if flood forecasters give the okay, they could start raising levels in the reservoir sooner.
With files from Erika Tucker
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