Black Donald Lake is a reservoir

Reservoir

A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...

 lake

Lake

A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...

 in the Township of Greater Madawaska, Renfrew County and the Township of North Frontenac

North Frontenac, Ontario

North Frontenac is a township in Frontenac County in eastern Ontario, Canada.North Frontenac was created in 1998 by the amalgamation of three municipalities: the Township of Barrie, the Township of Clarendon and Miller, and the Township of Palmerston, North and South Canonto.-Communities:The...

, Frontenac County

Frontenac County, Ontario

Frontenac County, as defined by Statistics Canada, is a census division of the Canadian province of Ontario. It is located in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario. The City of Kingston is included in the census division, but is politically separated from the County of Frontenac. It has a land...

 in Eastern

Eastern Ontario

Eastern Ontario is a subregion of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario which lies in a wedge-shaped area between the Ottawa River and St. Lawrence River...

 Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It is on the Madawaska River

Madawaska River (Ontario)

The Madawaska River is a river in Ontario, Canada. The river is long and drains an area of . It originates at Source Lake in the highlands of Algonquin Park at an elevation of and flows east, dropping before emptying into the Ottawa River at Arnprior....

 and is part of the Saint Lawrence River

Saint Lawrence River

The Saint Lawrence is a large river flowing approximately from southwest to northeast in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It is the primary drainage conveyor of the Great Lakes Basin...

 drainage basin

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

.

The major inflow, at the west, is the Madawaska River, which arrives directly from Centennial Lake at the same elevation as Black Donald Lake. A secondary inflow is Black Donald Creek at the centre north. The major outflow is also the Madawaska River, which flows over the dam at the Ontario Power Generation

Ontario Power Generation

Ontario Power Generation is a public company wholly owned by the Government of Ontario. OPG is responsible for approximately 70% of the electricity generation in the Province of Ontario, Canada. Sources of electricity include nuclear, hydroelectric, solar, wind, and fossil fuel...

 Mountain Chute Generating Station (hydroelectric

Hydroelectricity

Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...

) to Norcan Lake at the southeast. The Madawaska River then flows via the Ottawa River

Ottawa River

The Ottawa River is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. For most of its length, it now defines the border between these two provinces.-Geography:...

 to the Saint Lawrence River and thence to the Atlantic Ocean.

The settlement of Black Donald is on the southeast shore of the lake. From the outflow of the lake almost to the major inflow of the Madawaska River from Centennial Lake, Black Donald Lake forms the boundary between Greater Madawaska, Renfrew County and North Frontenac, Frontenac County.

History

Black Donald Lake and Centennial Lake adjacent upstream were created by the construction of the Mountain Chute Generating Station and dam and an associated embankment dam

Embankment dam

An embankment dam is a massive artificial water barrier. It is typically created by the emplacement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil, sand, clay and/or rock. It has a semi-permanent waterproof natural covering for its surface, and a dense, waterproof...

 in 1965–1966. Black Donald Lake subsumed the previous White Fish Lake and drowned the former mining community of Black Donald Mines, whose graphite

Graphite

The mineral graphite is one of the allotropes of carbon. It was named by Abraham Gottlob Werner in 1789 from the Ancient Greek γράφω , "to draw/write", for its use in pencils, where it is commonly called lead . Unlike diamond , graphite is an electrical conductor, a semimetal...

 mine by then had been exhausted. The reservoir took six months to fill and flooded 8500 acres (3,439.8 ha).

The lake is primarily used for recreation, tourism and cottages.

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