Brazeau River

Brazeau River in Banff National Park

The Brazeau River is a river in western Alberta, Canada. It is a major tributary of the North Saskatchewan River.

The river was by Joseph Brazeau, a linguist of the Palliser Expedition, named.

River

The river has its origin in the higher elevations of the Canadian Rocky Mountains in the Brazeau Lake, which is fed by streams of Coronet Glacier and Queen Elizabeth Ranges. It flows through the foothills of the Rocky Mountains to the east and flows between Drayton Valley and Rocky Mountain House at Brazeau Forks in the North Saskatchewan River. The headwaters of the Brazeau River runs from Jasper National Park to the Brazeau Canyon Wildland Park. The O'Chiese Indian Reservation is located at the confluence of the Nordegg River. The total length of the Brazeau River is 210 km.

Hydropower

The Brazeau River was selected early for the use of hydropower. 1913 first dam was built on the river. Brazeau Lake was provided as a water reservoir, but turned out to be unsuitable due to underground drains out. So the project was to provide the conurbations Edmonton and Calgary with electricity from the Brazeau River, abandoned.

The Brazeau Dam dams the river in the lower reaches to 99 km ² Brazeau Reservoir. The connected hydropower plant with a capacity of 355 MW and an annual output of around 394 GWh is the largest in Alberta.

A special feature of the 1965 approved construction project is a water pumping system that is able to lift water from the reservoir in a 20 km long channel, so that the connected hydropower plant can be operated at low water levels.

Inflows

• Boulder Creek
• Four Point Creek
• Brazeau Lake John - John Creek

• Whisker Creek, whiskers Lakes, Lake job, Leah Lake, Samson Lake

• Southesk Lake

• Chimney Creek

• Marshybank Lake