Talk:Rivière des Prairies

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The Rivière des Prairies is not a channel of the St-Lawrence River.

In 1990 I was an engineering student and had a summer job with Environment Canada helping measure streamflows in rivers around Montreal, including the Rivière des Prairies.

Hydrologically, the river is a branch of the Ottawa River, which flows into Lac des Deux-Montagnes, which is really just a widening of the Ottawa River. Below the Lac des Deux-Montagnes, the Ottawa river splits into five distinct channels. From West to East, those channels are:

1) The main channel of the Ottawa river, which flows West of Ile Perrot, separating it from the mainland; 2) The Ste-Anne channel of the Ottawa river, which flows between Ile Perrot and the Island of Montreal; 3) The main channel of the Rivière des Prairies, which flows between Ile Bizard and the Island of Montreal; 4) The Rapide Lalement branch of the Rivière des Prairies, which flows between Ile Bizard and Ile Jésus (the name of the island upon which the city of Laval is located); 5) The rivière des Milles-Iles, which flows North of Ile-Jésus, separating it from the mainland.

Both the main and St-Anne channels of the Ottawa River flow into Lac St-Louis, which is really a widening of the St-Lawrence River. The two channels of the Rivière des Prairies meet East of Ile-Bizard and from then on the river separates Ile-Jesus from the Island of Montreal. The Mille-Iles river flows into the Rivière des Prairies just before that river flows into the St-Lawrence.

Alex Plante, P. Eng.