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The Spray River is a tributary of the 
Bow River
The Bow River is a river in Alberta, Canada. It begins within the Canadian Rocky Mountains and winds through the Alberta foothills onto the prairies, where it meets the Oldman River, the two then forming the South Saskatchewan River. These ...
in western Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
, Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...
.
The Spray River originates in the southern area of Banff National Park
Banff National Park is Canada's oldest national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous terrain, with many glaciers and ice fields, dense conif ...
in the Canadian Rockies
The Canadian Rockies (french: Rocheuses canadiennes) or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost par ...
and soon enters the Spray Lakes Reservoir formed in 1951 after the construction of the ''Canyon Dam.'' At that point, the river briefly touches the Spray Valley Provincial Park
Spray Valley Provincial Park is a provincial park located east of the Rocky Mountains, along the Spray River in western Alberta, Canada.
The park is part of the Kananaskis Country park system (along with Bluerock Wildland Provincial Park, Bow Va ...
before returning to Banff National Park.
The river originally continued to flow north-northwest between the Goat Range and the Sundance Range before merging with Goat Creek at the northern end of the Goat Range and eventually meeting the Bow River
The Bow River is a river in Alberta, Canada. It begins within the Canadian Rocky Mountains and winds through the Alberta foothills onto the prairies, where it meets the Oldman River, the two then forming the South Saskatchewan River. These ...
in the Town of Banff, just below Bow Falls
Bow Falls is a major waterfall on the Bow River, Alberta just before the junction of it and the Spray River. They are located near the Banff Springs Hotel and golf course on the left-hand side of River Road.
The falls are within walking distanc ...
. However since the construction of the dam the Spray River bed is mostly dry north-northwest of the Spray Lakes Reservoir as the Dam diverts most of the water towards the Spray Powerhouse in Canmore. The river regains some water from Goat Creek and other smaller tributaries before arriving at the town of Banff.
Meanwhile most of the Spray River's water exits the reservoir through the secondary ''Three Sisters Dam'' where there is a small 3MW generating station. From there it immediately enters a secondary reservoir known as the ''Goat Pond'' which directs the water into a 6 kilometre long canal which includes an 800 meter tunnel though the shoulder of Ha Ling Peak
Ha Ling Peak is a peak at the northwestern end of Ehagay Nakoda — a mountain located immediately south of the town of Canmore just east of the Spray Lakes road in Alberta's Canadian Rockies. It was previously named Chinaman's Peak but the ...
. From there it enters ''White Man Pond'' before being funnelled into a penstock to the main Spray Powerhouse at Grassi Lakes. The Spray Powerhouse is the second largest conventional (non Pumped-storage
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PSH), or pumped hydroelectric energy storage (PHES), is a type of hydroelectric energy storage used by electric power systems for load balancing. The method stores energy in the form of gravitational potenti ...
) hydroelectric facility in Alberta with a capacity of 112MW. The water continues to another shorter penstock leading to the Rundle Powerhouse where an additional 50MW of generation is available. From there water is released into the Bow River. The 4 dams and three power stations are owned and operated by TransAlta
TransAlta Corporation (formerly Calgary Power Company, Ltd.) is an electricity power generator and wholesale marketing company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is a privately owned corporation and its shares are traded publicly. It o ...
.
Despite the diversion being a man made canal, it is often also called the Spray River, leading to confusion as many maps mark both the diversion and the original mostly dry river bed as the Spray river.
The scenic Smith Dorrien Trail follows the Spray River diversion canal and the shore of the Spray Lakes Reservoir.
See also
*List of rivers of Alberta
Alberta's rivers flow towards three different bodies of water, the Arctic Ocean, the Hudson Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Alberta is located immediately east of the continental divide, so no rivers from Alberta reach the Pacific Ocean.
List of riv ...
References
Rivers of Alberta Banff National Park Bow River {{Alberta-river-stub