The Chicoutimi River is a watercourse of eastern Quebec, Canada. A tributary of the Saguenay River, which it meets in the city of Saguenay, it is the main outlet of Kenogami Lake, which rises from a watershed of in the Laurentides Wildlife Reserve. Entirely located in the Chicoutimi borough of Saguenay, it is the most urbanized and dammed river in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean.Ouellet, Yves. The Saguenay Fjord. Merveille du Québec, Trecarré, 1993, 160 p.
Used by the Montagnais of the Saguenay River before the arrival of Europeans, it was at that time the first portage from the main access road to Lac Saint-Jean. In the 20th century, it was developed from its source to its mouth for hydropower purposes. In addition to being the source of drinking water for the Chicoutimi and Jonquière boroughs, this river has six dams (including 2 hydroelectric power plants in operation). During the Saguenay flood in 1996, its surge caused significant damage to Laterrière and Chicoutimi.
Geography Course and hydrogeology
The Chicoutimi River rises at Portage-des-Roches, in the Laterrière sector of the Chicoutimi borough at altitude and flows northeast towards Laterrière-Bassin where it is spanned by the Père-Honorat bridge. Leaving the rocky base and the steep relief of Portage-de-Roches, it then enters an alluvial and semi-alluvial plain up to dam de la Chute-GarneauGR Brooks, DE Lawrence, page 285 where the landscapes on both banks alternate between residences and agricultural land for a little over ten kilometers.
The Chute-Garneau dam is a watercourse retaining structure located on a rock base. Half a kilometer further on, route 170 crosses the river which then enters a more urbanized sector of the Chicoutimi borough. After having bypassed Pointe du Chien, it passes under Autoroute 70 and enters the Haut-Saguenay industrial park. The river then crosses the Pont-Arnaud dam and begins its increasingly rapid descent towards the Saguenay as the relief becomes increasingly steep. After passing under the Ulric Blackburn bridge (boulevard Barette) it flows into Lac Dubuc; the reservoir of the Chute-Blanchette dam. This retaining structure dries up the original rock bed of the river to divert it towards an underground water intake which supplies the S.P.C. ( Elkem Métal). The river then re-emerges in the historic site of the Pulperie de Chicoutimi and continues to descend to the Chicoutimi dam basin. Finally, it flows into the Saguenay River.
The Chicoutimi River flows mainly in the Saguenay graben, a vast elevated valley that overlooks the lowlands surrounding the Saguenay River. The soils of this large depression are composed of Quaternary marine sediments, such as silt and clay, deposited at the end of the Pleistocene and during the beginning of the Holocene by the Laflamme Sea.GR Brooks, DE Lawrence, page 284 During the last three kilometers when approaching the Saguenay river, opposite the landscape of the alluvial plain of Laterière, the river is encased in a series of gullies in which it sinks to . The composition of the soils and the strong acceleration of the runoff caused by unevenness in this sector are the main causes causing the river to cut, through marine clay, an incision from 10 to until the parent rock giving it the appearance of a torrent.
Hydrography The watershed of the Chicoutimi River occupies an area of , distributed mainly in the Laurentian Wildlife Reserve and shared between two administrative regions: Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean and Capitale-Nationale. The basin territory includes sections of 6 unorganized territories, the municipality in four MRCs.
Flowing from south to north, the Chicoutimi River rises east of Kenogami Lake via the Portage-des-Roches dam in the old town from Laterrière (today Chicoutimi borough to Saguenay (city)). This river is artificially controlled over in distance and in elevation for a century.The level of Lake Kénogami rose to in 1906 (Quebec, Commission des eaux running, 1930)
The first section, delimited by the dams of Portage-des-Roches and Pont-Arnaud, would represent a part in upstream of the river almost in length. Located in the plain of Laterrière, south of Chicoutimi, this section would have a drop of barely and would form a meander and a reservoir retained by the dams of Pont-Arnaud and Chute-Garneau.
Downstream from Pont-Arnaud, the second section has a drop of for about of distance. The Chute-Blanchette (Elkem Métal) and Chicoutimi (Abitibi-Consolidated) dams were built respectively on falls of and largely explain this steep descent to the Saguenay. The erosion of the river, barely visible upstream, becomes very apparent downstream because it has been dug, over time, in the granite of fjord, a small valley up to Saguenay River. The river is influenced by the tide only downstream of the Chicoutimi dam where it forms a basin.
Watershed Official designation of the basin First, it is important to specify that the Chicoutimi river watershed includes that of Kenogami Lake since the Letellier judgment in 1911. This judgment designated the Chicoutimi River as the main outlet for the lake to the detriment of the Rivière aux Sables. The daily contributions of spills from Kenogami Lake into these rivers according to the following proportions: 2/3 go to the Chicoutimi river and 1/3 to the Sables river.Decreed on April 13, 1911, by the Letellier judgment (Quebec, Superior Court, 1911)
General description
The watershed of the Chicoutimi River, with an area of , holds, with those neighboring it, the Quebec record of precipitation on its territory (approximately of water per year). Located mainly in the mountainous region (40% of its surface is more than above sea level. Du Laurentides Wildlife Reserve, the basin follows, in several places, steep slopes. The latter would also include three sub-basins (rivers Pikauba, Cyriac and aux-Écorces), two reservoirs (Kenogami and Pikauba) and part of the territory of each of the 5 former cities of Chicoutimi, Laterrière, Lac-Kénogami, Arvida and Jonquière which are now part of city of Saguenay.
The Chicoutimi river basin is also a sub-basin of the Saguenay River, which in turn flows into the St. Lawrence River and ends up in the Atlantic Ocean which drains most of the eastern Quebec rivers.
Flow management The Chicoutimi River, during the 20th century, saw its level rise significantly following the construction of numerous dams which made it pass from the stage of river to that of a succession of basins between Kénogami Lake and the Saguenay. In terms of flow control, four entities are involved in the management of dams: Quebec Department of Environment and Wildlife (Portage-des-roches Dam) City of Saguenay (Chute-Garneau and Pont-Arnaud) Elkem metal (Chute-Blanchette) Abitibi-Bowater (Chicoutimi)
Since the beginning of the 20th century, several works on the Kenogami Lake made it possible to regulate the flow of the Chicoutimi river and the Sables river which shared this same source. In order to ensure a constant supply to industries downstream from the rivers, water shares were supplied according to the demand, which differed between the cities of Chicoutimi and Jonquière. This approach triggered conflicts because the capacity to supply water to Kenogami Lake varied according to the seasons and the levels of the various structures did not allow an equitable sharing of flows. This situation was brought to court in 1911 resulting in the Letellier judgment which shared the contributions of the two main outlets from Kenogami Lake at 2/3 at the Chicoutimi river and 1/3 at the rivière-aux-Sables. Despite the changes in management, this rule is still in force today. The following year, in 1912, the construction of the Pont-Arnaud power station was completed.
The major enhancement of the waters of Kenogami Lake and the construction of retaining structures was envisaged in 1918. This mandate was given to the Commission des eaux running du Québec which plans to build the Portage-des-Roches dam which will be built with the Pibrac East and Pibrac West dams between 1923 and 1924.
Pro-riparian management versus pro-industry management The flow management of the Chicoutimi River is dependent on two factors: The safety of local residents, protection against flooding and the recreational and tourist development of the Kenogami Lake and the Chicoutimi River. Needs
Dams --- Portage-des-Roches Dam Tank volume Height of the structure Max. 706.5 Mm3 15.2 m 163.96 m (Summer) Tank area Length of the structure Height Min. ha 449.6 m 163.76 m (Summer) Dependent facilities: All facilities on the Chicoutimi River
Dam Chute-Garneau Tank volume Height of the structure Max. 0.9 Mm3 13.8 m 136.5 m (Summer) Tank area Length of the structure Height Min. Water flow 257.5 m 136.2 m (Summer) Dependent installations: Borough water intake Jonquière, Pont-Arnaud, Chute-Blanchette, Chicoutimi
Dam Pont-Arnaud Tank volume Height of the structure Max. 1.125 Mm3 16.5 m 124.5 m (Summer) Tank area Length of the structure Height Min. 7.5 ha 121 m 124.3 m (Summer) Dependent installations: Borough water intake Chicoutimi, water intake of the company Alcan, Chute-Blanchette, Chicoutimi
Chute-Blanchette Dam Tank volume Height of the structure Max. 0.88 Mm3 12.5 m? m (Summer) Tank area Length of the structure Height Min. 11 ha 137 m? m (Summer) Dependent installations: Water intake of the Elkem Metal power plant, Elkem Metal power plant, Chicoutimi pulp mill, Chicoutimi Dam
Chicoutimi Dam Tank volume Height of the structure Max. 1.054 Mm3 30 m? m (Summer) Tank area Length of the structure Height Min. 3.7 ha 221 m? m (Summer) Dependent installations: Centrale Abitibi-Price Chicoutimi
Main floods (1971 to 1996) Flow (m3/s) Year Season 1100 1996 Summer 340 1986 Spring 317 1974 Spring 313 1979 Spring 310 1983 Spring 310 1994 Summer 297 1985 Spring 288 1982 Spring 286 1971 Summer 280 1975 Spring 267 1976 Spring 265 1981 Spring 255 1986 Summer 255 1995 Spring 245 1985 Summer Source: BAPE
Environment Fauna
Flora
Pollution
History The trading post The first permanent European installations in the Saguenay region were built at the confluence of the Chicoutimi and Saguenay rivers. Built in 1676 on the remains of a prehistoric Amerindian encampment, the Chicoutimi trading post, which included a commercial warehouse and a chapel, reached its peak at the end of the 17th century. It closed its doors in 1856.)Martin, Yves. The Conurbation of the Saguenay region, Laval University, 1952, 18 p.
The pulp industry The mills
In 1847, Peter McLoed (son), founder of the town of Chicoutimi, built his second mill in the Bassin district, near the Chicoutimi River. On the latter's death, William Price, his only partner, took possession of all the mills in the region on behalf of the William Price and Company and bequeathed all to his sons who founded the Price Brothers and Company which became Abitibi-Price (now Abitibi-Consolidated, then AbitibiBowater).
La Pulperie According to the surveyor LM Deschênes (1888):