Oldman River flow decreasing after peaking late Wednesday

The Oldman River is expected to crest Wednesday night after four days of rain.

The flow of the Oldman River has begun to decrease after peaking late Wednesday.

The river reached a flow rate of 777 cubic metres per second late Wednesday after the water began to slow down.

Currently, the flow rate is just over 600 cubic metres per second.

A high streamflow advisory remains in place.

The city said operations at the water treatment plant are improving, but they are still struggling with the silt in the water.

The voluntary water conservation will continue through the weekend.

The Oldman Watershed Council says the heavy rain has brought several benefits to the region.

“The rain helps the fish spawn, that spawn in the spring and it really helps clean out the river beds and gives them a really nice clean surface to lay their eggs in, in the bottom of the streams,” said Oldman Watershed Council CEO Shannon Frank. “The rain also helps the cottonwood trees, they need those higher flow conditions to lay down sediment for the seedlings to grow in so hopefully we’ll see higher populations of cottonwoods and fish going forward.”

The city says most of the parks closures and pathways in the River Valley have reopened.