Water levels on the St. Lawrence River, driven by drought to some of the lowest on record, have had little impact on commercial activities, according to major users.
This fall, the low levels rendered many boat ramps and lifts unusable, greatly complicating efforts by recreational boaters to haul their boats out of the water. But representatives of ports, shipping interests and hydroelectric utilities indicated these conditions had limited consequences for them.
Much of Canada's trade traverses these waters, portions of which are near the lowest levels on record. About 37 million tonnes of dry bulk, grain, iron and other cargo was transported on the St. Lawrence Seaway during last year's shipping season. Roughly a quarter of the Seaway's traffic, originates or is destined for overseas ports.
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The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp., the non-profit that oversees the waterway, introduced navigation restrictions gradually in recent months. It instructed ships with drafts (the distance from the waterline to the lowest point of a vessel's hull) greater than 7.8 metres to avoid certain shallow areas of the seaway, such as near Galop Island east of Prescott, Ont. It also imposed speed restrictions.
"Trade and navigation have continued without major incident," SLSMC spokesperson Nicole Giroux wrote in an e-mail.
The Port of Montreal, Eastern Canada's largest container port, handling more than 35 million tonnes of goods last year, reported that no ships have been diverted to date as a result of the low water levels.
"There has been no impact on operations," spokesperson Renée Larouche wrote in a statement. "We are making sure to inform shipping lines so that they can adjust their cargo according to water levels."
Chris Hall, president and CEO of the Shipping Federation of Canada, said his organization had no comment about current water levels on the St. Lawrence. The association represents owners, operators and agents of ocean vessels, from dry bulk to containers and cruise ships, that carry exports and imports to and from world markets.
Hydro Quebec has three power dams in the Montreal area: Beauharnois, Les Cedres and Riviere-des-Prairies. Spokesperson Pascal Poinlane said the low water levels had negligible impact on these facilities.
At the 1,864-megawatt Beauharnois dam, Hydro Quebec's largest on the St. Lawrence system, waters have lately flowed at roughly 6,500 cubic metres per second, as compared with historical averages this time of year of around 7,300 cubic metres per second.
"For us, it's not a big deal," Mr. Poinlane said.
More broadly, though, drought has had a significant impact on Quebec, which has traditionally exported more electricity than any other province. Low water levels on many river systems provincewide prompted Hydro Quebec to dramatically curtail its exports since 2023.
Marie-Ève Dion, a spokesperson for the Federation québécoise des municipalités, said municipalities along the St. Lawrence River have not reported any impact to their water supply, although low river levels have affected communities elsewhere in the province.
The Canada Drought Monitor classified the vast majority of Canada as abnormally dry or suffering drought as of Sept. 30. This includes Ontario and Quebec, most of which received less than 60 per cent of normal precipitation for that month, resulting in expanding drought conditions. The Canadian Coast Guard said on Monday it expected water levels to remain low for the next few weeks.
It's a dramatic reversal from 2017 and 2019, when wet weather contributed to record high water levels on both Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.
The International Joint Commission, established by the U.S. and Canadian governments to deal with water issues along the Canada-U.S. border, is responsible for regulating flows of water from Lake Ontario into the St. Lawrence River. Plan 2014 is a set of rules used to determine how much water is released through the Moses-Saunders Dam and Long Sault Dam located near Cornwall, Ont., that help manage the flow to and from the lake.
The commission established the International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River board to implement those rules.
"The last time we've been anywhere near this water level is 2012, and we're very close to historical lows," said Halya Petzold, secretary of the Canadian section of the board.
Earlier this month, the board increased flows from Lake Ontario an additional 500 metres per second to help recreational boaters haul their boats, which it considered a minor deviation from Plan 2014. Lake St. Louis, at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa rivers, rose nearly 30 centimetres.
Ms. Petzold said the board currently has no plans for additional deviations from Plan 2014. Recently, the total supply of water into Lake Ontario averaged 4,720 cubic metres per second, as compared with 6,680 cubic metres leaving the lake into the lower St. Lawrence River.
"The plan is set up not just to consider the here and now, but the risks through time," she said.
"While I think there's many people who would prefer that more water be released from Lake Ontario right now, not maximizing outflow from Lake Ontario at this moment is offsetting future risk of even lower water levels, and potentially harsher impacts to users."