What is criterion (k) and what triggers criterion (k) operations during high or low water conditions?
• Criterion (k), included as part of the St. Lawrence project Orders of Approval, provides the Board with flexibility to release flows above or below those specified by the regulation plan to provide relief to specific interests in the event that extreme supplies, unanticipated at the time of project approval, are encountered. Historically, the Board has considered several factors when recommending that the IJC invoke Criterion (k). The Board does not wait until water levels have exceeded the upper or lower limits, but instead seeks to preclude this from happening, if possible. The primary factors it examines are: Based upon these factors, the Board may recommend to the IJC that Criterion (k) be invoked. Once invoked by the IJC, operations under Criterion (k) commence. Under high supplies, Criterion (k) provides that all possible relief be given to riparians upstream and downstream of the project. Under low supplies, Criterion (k) provides that all possible relief be given to hydropowe
