Kootenay Lake is a lake located in British Columbia, Canada. It is part of the Kootenay River. The lake has been raised by the Corra Linn Dam and has a dike system at the southern end, which, along with industry in the 1950s–70s, has changed the ecosystem in and around the water. The Kootenay Lake ferry is a year-round toll-free ferry that crosses between Kootenay Bay and Balfour. The lake is a popular summer tourist destination.

Geography

Kootenay Lake is a long, narrow and deep fjord-like lake located between the Selkirk and Purcell mountain ranges in the Kootenay region of British Columbia. The lake is 532m above sea level,

Kootenay Lake was formed through river erosion and, later, glaciation. The erosion began during the late Cretaceous until ice filled the resulting valley in the Pleistocene. are (minimum discharge), These native populations used the lake and associated river systems as part of their seasonal migration and trading routes.

In 1958 the Kootenay Lake Crossing, an electrical power line, was built, running across the north arm of Kootenay Lake. It was destroyed in 1962 by protestors and rebuilt later that year.

The lake originally seasonally flooded an approximately 80 km long marsh lying to the lake's south within the Creston Valley. However, this has now been diked and converted to commercial agriculture. A smaller wetland area has been protected in this area.

In 1931, Corra Linn Dam was built at the outflow from Kootenay Lake, where it once again became a river. The dam provides flood control and winter power generation by raising the normal water level by two meters. Just down river is Bonnington Falls, today the site of several hydroelectric dams. In 2003 the lake discharged 16.9 billion cubic metres of water. High water for that year was a normal 533 metres, the record is 537 metres in 1961. In 1967 as part of the Columbia River Treaty the Duncan Dam was constructed above Kootenay Lake on the Duncan River, creating a 7,145 hectare reservoir for flow control. into the west arm due to the increased control of water levels, the disruption of rearing habitat due to recurring drawdown of the lake, reduced productivity of benthos due to the reduction of the amount of nutrients into the lake (after the close of the fertilizer plant), overfishing in the 1960s to 1970s Large quantities of phosphorus entered the Kootenay River; the cause of cyanobacterial blooms from the 1950s until the early 1970s. This plant closed in 1973 eliminating these phosphates.

See also

  • List of lakes of British Columbia
  • Duncan River (British Columbia)
  • Glass House (British Columbia)

Steamboats

  • City of Ainsworth
  • Moyie

References

  • More on Kootenay Lake