Romaine River

The Romaine River, known also as the Kanatuahkuiau, Uanaman Hipu, and Uepatauekat Shipu, is a river in eastern Canada. It flows from north to south, emptying into the Jacques Cartier Strait in the municipality of Havre-Saint-Pierre.
The Romaine is a salmon river located in Minganie RCM, Côte-Nord, and Labrador regions within the provinces of Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Geography

The Romaine River is long. It is not to be confused with the Olomane River that is to the east and which had the same name for many years.
The river is about long. It has its source on the boundary between the Atlantic and St. Lawrence watersheds, and flows first through a series of lakes, including the Long, Marc, Brûlé, Lavoie, Anderson, and Lozeau. This portion of the river to just past the confluence with Uauahkue Patauan Creek forms the boundary between Quebec and Labrador. Then it flows in a mostly southerly direction until a dozen miles from the coast where it takes a sharp turn to the west, flowing through a series of swampy waterlogged small lakes. The Romaine River flows into Jacques Cartier Strait, part of Gulf of St. Lawrence, west of Havre-Saint-Pierre and Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve.
The river has a Strahler number of 7.

Toponymy

The name Romaine, in use since the end of the 19th century, is a French adaptation of a word from a First Nations language, Ouraman or Ulaman, as noted by Jean-Baptiste-Louis Franquelin in 1685, while Jacques-Nicolas Bellin wrote Ramane on his map of 1744. It comes from unaman, meaning "vermilion" or "red ochre". Deposits of this material are found on the banks of the Olomane River.

Localisation

The Romaine River basin covers.
It lies between the basins of the Mingan River to the west and the Rivière à l'Ours to the east.
About 15.5% of the basin is in Labrador north of the provincial boundary.
In Quebec the basin includes parts of the unorganized territory of Lac-Jérôme and the municipality of Havre-Saint-Pierre.
The Mine du lac Tio, an iron and titanium mine, is in the river basin.
It also includes the proposed Buttes du Lac aux Sauterelles biodiversity reserve.

Katnukamat Biodiversity Reserve

Réserve de biodiversité Katnukamat is located in the backcountry of the Côte-Nord, it's part of the unorganized territory of Lac-Jérôme in Minganie MRC. The protected area is about 165 km north-northwest of Havre-Saint-Pierre and about 155 km north of the Innu community.

Tributaries

The Romaine River includes several important tributaries: the Puyjalon river at the southern end of the watershed, the Romaine Sud-Est and Abbé-Huard rivers in the southeast, the Garneau river in the center-east, the Touladis river in the center- west, the Sauterelles River to the northwest, the Sénécal River and its network of lakes to the northeast and the Natuaiahu Creek at the northern end.

Hydroelectric development

In September 2007, a study of 490 pages conducted by Hydro-Québec, submitted to the Minister of Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change highlighted the importance of the work planned for the development of the Complexe de la Romaine. Numerous consultations with the public as well as various discussions with the community and local authorities made it possible to disclose the major environmental issues of the project, namely:

Economic benefits
Opening up the territory, crossing the Romaine by snowmobile, hunting, fishing and trapping activities
Preservation of wildlife resources and their habitat
Preservation or the integrity of the Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve

In December 2007, Hydro-Québec's Geomatics Department published an information document intended for the public concerned by the Romaine Complex project, consisting of 6 detailed maps:

Constituent municipalities
Sport hunting and fishing
Commercial fishing zones
Snowmobile trail network downstream from the Romaine-2 site
Navigation on the Romaine River, locations of rapids, weirs, waterfall and portages
Typical landscapes

The Romaine River is being developed by Hydro-Québec for hydro-electric power generation. Construction started in 2009 on a new hydroelectric plant, along with four rock-filled dams and a long access road, that will take 11 years to build at an estimated cost of 6.5 billion. Called "the biggest construction project in Canada", the project will employ an estimated 2000 people between 2012 and 2016, and create some 3.5 billion in economic spinoffs.
The final project will include four new power plants with a total installed capacity of more than 1550 MW and an average annual production of 8.0 TWh.
This project is controversial however, as the cost of electricity production may be higher than the price at which the electricity will be sold, as shown in a 2010 documentary called "Chercher le courant" by Nicolas Boisclair and Alexis de Gheldère. The film argues that the Romaine project is unnecessary, unprofitable, and ecologically destructive. It is also opposed by the Fondation Rivières.

Name	Location	Design flow	Capacity	Units	Head	Est. completion year	Reservoir	Reservoir size	Geographic coord.
Romaine-1	52.5	485	270	2	61	2016	Romaine-1 Reservoir	12
Romaine-2	90.4	453	640	2	151	2014	Romaine-2 Reservoir	83
Romaine-3	158.6	372	395	2	116	2017	Romaine-3 Reservoir	38
Romaine-4	192.0	307	245	2	93	2022	Romaine-4 Reservoir	140

Fauna

The Romaine River is home to the Atlantic salmon that swims upstream as far as the Grande Chute. Other fish species are Brook trout, Lake trout, and Landlocked salmon.

Salvelinus fontinalis. — Omble de Fontaine. —.
Salvelinus namaycush. — Touladi. —.
Salmo salar. — Saumon atlantique, Saumon ouananiche. —.