Sakwatamau River near Whitecourt Water Level
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Sakwatamau River near Whitecourt in AB, Canada, built from official government gauge data.
- Location AB, Canada
- Watershed upper athabasca freeman
- Primary gauge 07AH003 (Water Survey of Canada)
About Sakwatamau River near Whitecourt
The Sakwatamau River near Whitecourt is in the Upper Athabasca - Freeman watershed in Alberta.
What the record shows
This station has 53 years on record, so the pattern here is long enough to matter for planning around docks, intakes, and bank access.
The record high is 3.22 m (10.57 ft) in July 2012. The record low is 0.12 m (0.39 ft) in September 2025. That spread is a wide one for a small river station, and it tells you that this reach can sit very low at the end of summer and still climb to a much higher level in another season.
The monthly pattern is clear. April is the highest typical month at 0.83 m (2.72 ft), while September is the lowest typical month at 0.31 m (1.01 ft). The typical annual swing is 52 cm (20.5 in). For someone with a dock, a pump line, or a boat landing, that means the water can move enough over the year to change access and draft without warning from the calendar alone.
A fastest 24-hour rise is not available in the facts here, so I won’t guess at short-notice flood response for this station.
The watershed
The station drains 1,146 km2 (442 sq mi) upstream of the gauge. That is the area feeding this site, not the full watershed as a whole.
The broader regional note fits a foothills and prairie system: late-spring peaks are common, and summer storms can bring sharp rises. At this station, the record itself shows the spring peak month and the late-summer low month, which is the kind of seasonal swing that anglers and property owners need to watch when a reach is used for access, watering, or crossings.
Reading the hero number
The hero number on this page should be read against the median for this calendar day across the station record, not as a raw elevation alone. That comparison answers a better question: is the river sitting near its usual level for today, or is it high or low for the date?
Raw elevation by itself can be misleading because a level only becomes useful when you know the station’s normal range for that day and how often it has moved outside it over the record. With 53 years on record, that date-based context is the better guide for day-to-day use.
How this page is built
Readings come from official government gauges and are rolled into daily records: the daily mean, high and low for every day on record. Each calendar day gets its own baseline from the full history, so the level you see is compared against what this specific date usually looks like rather than an annual average.
How Nibi Metrics works · Water stories
Nibi Metrics - live water levels, flow, and forecasts for lakes and rivers across Canada, the US and the UK
Real-time water levels, forecasts, and alerts for lakes and rivers across Canada, the US and the UK. Built on official government data.
Nibi Metrics tracks more than 13,000 gauged lakes and rivers across Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, reading directly from official federal monitoring networks: the Water Survey of Canada, the United States Geological Survey, Quebec's provincial hydrometric network, and the Environment Agency for England. Every number on the platform is measured, not modelled - taken from a government gauge on the water itself and compared against that location's own historical record for this exact date.
What you can see for any monitored lake or river
The level right now, in feet or metres, updated as the source agency publishes new readings - for many stations that is every five to fifteen minutes. How today compares to typical: every location carries its own typical-for-this-date band built from its historical record, so a reading is never just a number - it is above, below, or near what this water usually does on this calendar day. Which way it is moving: a measured RISING, FALLING, or STEADY verdict computed from the gauge's own recent readings, with the rate of change - the difference between a flood ending and one beginning. What comes next: level forecasts up to 72 hours ahead, driven by the gauge's recent behaviour, upstream water, and quantitative precipitation forecasts, alongside live radar, lightning, and weather for the surrounding region.
Alerts that watch the water for you
Set a threshold on any location - a level, a distance above typical, or a rate of climb - and Nibi emails or notifies you the moment the gauge crosses it. Cottagers use it for spring freshet, anglers for river conditions, marinas and municipalities for operations. The scanning runs around the clock against the same measured data shown on every page.
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Nibi means water in Anishinaabemowin. The platform began at a family cottage on Lake Muskoka, Ontario, where the spring melt floods the shoreline most years and the only forecast was standing on the dock, looking, and guessing. It grew into an independent, member-funded platform run by Muskoka Research Inc. - no investors, no data resale, and a privacy policy shorter than most cookie banners. The core data is free for everyone, forever; paid plans add automation like multi-location alerts, deep history, and reports.
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Nibi spans the continent: every Canadian province and territory with active federal gauges - from Vancouver Island rivers to the Muskoka lakes, prairie reservoirs, and Quebec's hydrometric network - and the United States from Maine to the Texas Hill Country, the Ohio Valley, and the Pacific Northwest. Coverage grows where the water news is: when a basin floods, its gauges join the platform with their full historical records attached. Many stations report every five to fifteen minutes; most report at least hourly; every page states exactly when its gauge last spoke.
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The core promise is simple: the water data is free, for everyone, forever. Live levels, maps, radar, and recent history never sit behind a paywall. Paid plans fund the platform by adding automation - multi-location alerts, decades of history, longer forecasts, and PDF reports - so the people who need more carry the cost for everyone who just needs to check the lake before driving up. There are no investors and no advertising deals shaping what the data says.
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How every number is computed - About the platform
