SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Brian Abbott is noticing firsthand what many people in Yellowknife have been saying all summer ­ that water levels are way down this year.

Shawn McKnight, a dispatcher with Air Tindi at the company's dock Oct. 6 - Terrence McEachern/NNSL photo

"Our barge is sitting on the land. It's supposed to be floating. One side is sitting high and dry ­ the other side still floats, but not by much," said Abbott, owner of Great Slave Fish Products, who has his barge parked on the shore of Jolliffe Island.

He said he's noticed that the water level on Yellowknife Bay has dropped by about two feet. Abbott said the lower water levels haven't affected business that much, other than his ability to process fish.

"The whole barge is leaning on an angle. You put a fish on the table ­ it wants to slide away," he said with a laugh.

Environment Canada's Water Survey of Canada data table supports Abbott's claim. For the area of Great Slave Lake at Yellowknife Bay, the water level has dropped to 156.245 metres on Oct. 5, 2010, from 156.567 metres on Oct. 5, 2009 -- about a foot and a half.

Bob Reid, head of water management and planning at the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, said the low water on Yellowknife Bay is "near record levels." He said average snowfall and less rain north of Great Slave Lake since the winter have contributed to the low water levels in the Yellowknife River. But in terms of the lower water levels overall in Great Slave Lake, he said the major contributing factor is very low precipitation in Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. over the past three years that have produced less water flowing into the Slave River, which contributes 75 per cent of the water that flows into Great Slave Lake.

"Local rainfall doesn't really affect the big lake that much," he said.

The Slave River has been at "record low flows" all summer, he said.

"It takes a while for the rivers to come back up, even with a bit of rain because everything is so dry it just soaks into the soil. It takes a while to recharge everything up to a level where the flows start to pick up," he said.

Teri Arychuk, vice-president of operations for Air Tindi, said floatplane pilots are trained to spot the best places to land and avoid low water areas but she has noticed that the area around the plane's docking areas are getting quite shallow.

"We're really hoping it doesn't keep going down," she said.

Shawn McKnight, a dispatcher with Air Tindi, said pilots are telling him they're having a hard time getting close to the shore of some of the smaller lakes near Yellowknife, such as Ross Lake. He said pilots are concerned about more rocks being exposed and about getting beached close to shore. As a result, some passengers have been dropped off 10 to 15 feet from shore, and forced to wade through the water to get to their cabins or lodges.

McKnight described Air Tindi's back dock at the north side of facility a "floating dock that isn't floating" and smaller aircraft used by the company can know longer be docked there.

There have also been troubles at the the main dock, he said. The rubber tires attached to the dock to buffer airplane floats are sitting above the floats.

Water levels are also low in the Mackenzie River where the Merv Hardie Ferry crosses near Fort Providence. The survey's data shows that levels have dropped one metre to 4.686 metres on Oct. 4, 2010 from 5.697 metres on Oct. 4, 2009. A travel advisory posted on the GNWT Department of Transportation's website Oct. 5 warned that interruptions to the ferry "are to be expected with little or no notice due to low water levels and/or fog." The ferry was still operating at press time.