Boat launches are set to open across the province on May 4 as part of Phase 1 of Reopening Saskatchewan.
Many residents will want to shake the dust off their favourite watercraft and go for a cruise on the South Saskatchewan River.
This year will be different, though, with new rules in place and safety measures in place because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“That’s everything from physical distancing to numbers you can call if you need to report infractions or if you need further information,” said Meewasin Valley Authority CEO Andrea Lafond.
Lafond says there will also be more COVID-19-related illustrative signage installed.
Another issue the river poses is sandbars.
There are several new sandbars due to the river being so low in the last two years, said Prairie Lily Riverboat Capt. Mike Steckhan.
With the Water Security Agency announcing it is increasing the flow of water from the Gardiner Dam from under 100 cubic metres per second to roughly 300 cubic metres in late April, river goers should understand where all sandbars are located.
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“The water flows will increase enough to raise the river level to cover them with a thin depth of water,” Steckhan said. “But not enough to wash them away.”
Steckhan uses high-tech computers and sonar to track what the river is doing every year.
For competitive canoer Edith MacHattie, who trains on the river, there are spots that are deceiving and barely covered by water.
“There are sandbars everywhere,” she said.
“We paddle upstream and around Yorath Island, usually. I had to get out, it was about (a couple inches) shallow.”
Steckhan even suggests people consider using alternative bodies of water and avoid the headache because the sandbars have the potential to be dangerous.
“You are safer to take your family to Diefenbaker or Blackstrap (Lake) or someplace where there are no shifting sandbars,” he said.
“At some point, given one choice or the other, that is where I’d go.”
The water is expected to rise by roughly a foot in the coming days.
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