Churchill River Diversion, Burntwood River Waterway: studies to evaluate winter regime

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering
• Main Authors: Hopper, H. R., Simonsen, C. P. S., Poulier, W. J. S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1978
• Subjects: General Environmental Science; Civil and Structural Engineering; Burntwood River; Notigi; Notigi Lake; Churchill River
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/l78-063; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/l78-063

The Churchill River Diversion, from the outlet control at Notigi Lake to the Nelson River at Split Lake, is routed along the Burntwood River. This river, which normally carries a winter flow of about 1000 ft 3 /s (28 m 3 /s), will be required to convey a design flow of 30 000 ft 3 /s (850 m 3 /s).During winter, tranquil reaches of the waterway will quickly develop an ice cover while the swifter reaches will remain open and generate large quantities of slush ice. This ice will accumulate under established ice covers in the form of hanging dams and will alter the regime of the river.This paper describes the methodology used to estimate the changing regime of the Burntwood River Waterway, during the course of winter. The waterway was considered as a series of reservoirs, each of which may develop an ice dam. A computer program was developed to route diversion flows through these reservoirs, taking into account the quantity of slush ice generated and deposited to form the hanging dams.The results of routing present a time-based range of possible stages and flows along the waterway, the sizes of the ice dams formed, and the volume of water detained in the lakes along the waterway.