Northern Research Basins Water Balance (Proceedings of a workshop held at Victoria, Canada, March 2004). IAHS Publ. 290, 2004, 178–185

Abstract The purpose of water balance studies conducted by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND) in watersheds within the Northwest Territories is to provide lake evaporation data for water management at mine sites. Data are currently being collected at three study sites, all located at abandoned mine sites undergoing restoration. Annual lake evaporation decreases sharply toward the cooler north, going from 414 mm at Pocket Lake near Yellowknife to 280 mm at Colomac about 200 km north of Yellowknife. Going from sheltered taiga to open tundra at similar latitudes, a slight increase to 290 mm annual lake evaporation is noted at Salmita about 150 km east of Colomac. The importance of lake evaporation data and numerical modelling of the water balance in small basins is increasingly evident for mine-site water management in the Northwest Territories.