A Power Company President's Viewpoint on River Management

Based on a speech given by Walter Saponja President of TransAlta Utilities October 14, 1995

Dam operators have a difficult task to balance all the demands people put on rivers

I have several business suits in my closet at home and one of them I wear to speaking occasions such as this. Water quality issues can be very emotional and one of my suits happens to be bullet proof!

I am a fly fisherman. I also hunt pheasants along the lower reaches of the Bow River. I cherish fishing for trout in the Bow River and I understand people's concern for the state of the Bow River.

TransAlta Utilities

TransAlta Utilities Ltd. is a low cost provider of electricity. TransAlta works to accommodate wide and diverse needs - all the way from irrigation out on the prairies to stabilizing flow rates through cities. Roughly 30% of our electrical production is sold to cities, 40% to industry and 30% to buyers outside of Alberta. We have a difficult task to balance all of the demands on the Bow River!

TransAlta was originally named Calgary Power. Calgary Power built the Horseshoe Falls Dam on the Bow River in 1911. The first customers were Exshaw Cement and the City of Calgary. So, you see, TransAlta has had a long history on the Bow River.

Generating Capacity

The Bow River represents only 8% of TransAlta's generating capacity. Our coal burning power plants at Lake Wabamun and Hanna operate non-stop and produce 92% of our electricity. However, our hydroelectric plants on the Bow River only operate to supply peak demands. Hydro dams were developed to operate for only a few hours a day.

Changes to the Annual Flow Profile

The major impact of TransAlta's operations has been to change the annual river flow profile. Undammed rivers would normally have high peak flows in the spring and low flows in late summer and winter. What TransAlta has done is to store spring run-off and release it over the low flow periods during the rest of the year.

Right now, there are daily peaks but the annual changes in river flows have been averaged out. Over time, what was once an artificial river flow profile has now become the normal state of the Bow River. Any new changes would have a further impact.

Flood Control

We at TransAlta have to balance the needs of a wide range of water users. For example, we don't claim to provide flood control on the Bow - the dam structures were not built for this. However, increasing development along the Bow Corridor raises a safety issue for us. Therefore, the primary responsibility of our dam sites is safety - over and above electricity production. A dam failure would be a major incident.

Fisheries Improvement

The dramatic changes in water levels caused by reservoir fill and draw down cycles are of concern to anglers. On the other hand, the Bearspaw Dam has been a major factor in fisheries improvement. The Bearspaw Dam stabilizes the river flow downstream of working dams and helps to create 100 km of highly productive trout fishing.

We could stabilize the water level in the Lower Kananaskis Lakes to improve fishing, but at an annual cost of $400,000 in lost electrical generation. Such a change would be at the expense of the power consumer to meet the needs of anglers. If Albertans do decide on fish over power, we only insist that power users get fair compensation. It's not for free.