Manitou Lake (Saskatchewan)

This article is about Manitou Lake. For Little Manitou Lake and Manitou Beach, see Little Manitou Lake (Saskatchewan).

Manitou Lake
File:Manitou Lake SK.jpg North-West Bay
Location	Manitou Lake No. 442, Saskatchewan
Coordinates
Type	Endorheic
Primary inflows	Eyehill Creek
Catchment area	3,000 km2 (1,200 sq mi)
Basin countries	Canada
Surface area	78 km2 (30 sq mi)
Islands	Manitou Island
Settlements	Marsden, Neilburg
References

Manitou Lake is a salt-water lake in Western Saskatchewan near the Alberta border west of North Battleford. Because the lake is endorheic and quite salty there are no fish in the lake. Manitou Island in the centre of the lake is now connected to the southern shore as the water level has lowered.

Description

The lake is fed from Eyehill Creek on the south end, as well as many small springtime meltwater tributaries. The lake overflows to the north into the Battle River, although this has only happened once since European settlers first arrived in the area (approximately 1905). Lake levels were relatively constant until 1980, and have been declining rapidly since then, approximately one meter every six years. Less annual snowfall is blamed for most of this trend, and there is also heavier utilization of the Eyehill Creek system by urban, industrial, and agricultural users.

There is very little development on the lake although on the North-West Bay near the Suffern Lake Regional Park (Manitou Section) there is a golf course, cabins and a Bible Camp. The communities of Marsden and Neilburg are nearby to the north on Highway 40.