The capacity of the Vermillion Reservoir is significantly greater than originally thought.
Dauphin and Manitoba Infrastructure have been meeting with each other to investigate issues around continued use of the Vermillion Reservoir, located on the north boundary of RMNP.
The bathymetric survey they conducted showed a greater capacity of 4100 DAM3.
There has also been a considerable amount of siltation in the reservoir that will continue.
In October 2018, the city hired divers to take a look at the two intakes for the reservoir pump house. The divers found the lower intake buried under 0.6 metres of silt. The divers also found out the upper intake was buried in sediment and debris.
At the time of that dive, the reservoir was considered full and the divers noted 5 metres of water above the intake, because of the silt there were only 4.25 metres of water above the bottom of the reservoir.
While Bill Brenner was researching the reservoir, he found a letter from the province indicating the dam constructed to create the reservoir was created in a way that could increase the reservoir overflow level. Brenner wants to look into increasing the dam’s containment volume, which would help guide them in the proper remediation options.
