Abstract
Estimates of evaporation associated with the injection of heated surface water from power plants on the shores of Lake Wabamun, Alberta are obtained from 21 years of data. Natural lake evaporation estimates are coupled with estimates of monthly lake-level changes, precipitation, runoff and discharge in years prior to power plant installation and years following plant installation. The change in residuals of the water-budget equation when pre-plant years are subtracted from recent years yields an estimate of enhanced evaporation (6.2 ± 6.9 cm per year) which is free of systematic errors common to water-budget components in both sets of years. A more reliable estimate (5.5 ± 3.9 cm per year, representing 69 percent of the change in heat release to the lake) is obtained when the water-budget equation residuals for six early power plant years are subtracted from those for six recent years.

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