Longer and warmer summers in the Mackenzie Basin have resulted in increased evaporation and lower water levels in late summer and autumn. As a result, autumn water levels on Great Slave Lake and the upper Mackenzie River are now the lowest ever recorded. The average autumn water levels in Great Slave Lake have dropped by almost a metre, and annual water levels by half a metre, since the mid 1960s. [8]
Hydroelectric generation for the city of Yellowknife has been sharply reduced, forcing more dependence on expense diesel fuel. Barge traffic down the Mackenzie River was twice interrupted in 1995 because of record low water levels.
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