Boaters and rafters advised to stay off Bow River

A boating advisory was issued by the Calgary Fire Department Monday recommending against boating and all other watercraft activities on the Bow River.

"The Bow Riveris flowing a lot higher anda lot faster andthat has dramatically increased the risk to anyone who's choosing to go out on the river,"said fire department public information officer Carol HenkeMonday on The Homestretch.

The cause of the rise? Fallout from a fierce winter.

"A lot of it is the melting snow from the mountains," she said."And that's creating the condition where we have increased velocity, we have more debris in the water, increased turbidity which means the water isn't as clear, so you can't see hazards in the water as easily and then the temperature, it's extremely cold, so hypothermia sets in a lot faster."

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The Bow River is usually popular at this time of year for canoeists, kayakers and rafters, especially during the warmer weather.

Henkesaid that while there has been no appreciable increase in rescue calls, the increased flow rate makes any activity risky.

"Most of the people who want to use the river they're not experienced river users, and that just creates a riskier situation for them, their family, and for first responders as well," she said.

Flow to increase

The fire department's aquatics team will monitorthe river while the advisory is in place, during which time it's recommended people stay off the Bow until the situation changes.

Henkeexpects the situation to actually grow worse.

"We do anticipate that the flow will increase even more so right now, we're sitting at close to 300 cubic metres per second, and we do expect that to go up to 350 in the next few days."

HarviePassage, downstream of the Calgary Zoo,remains closed to recreational boat traffic. The province is in the process of restoring the paddling facility and the river with its current high flow rate poses an "extreme risk," the fire department said.

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