Photo: Canadian2006 · CC BY-SA 3.0Watrous faces fewer hazards than 90% of Canadian towns
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Watrous, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk runs low: $0.007 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Watrous’ survey area, 6.6% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Watrous a grade of A, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Watrous’s hazards
For Watrous, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Watrous faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Watrous grades A for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Watrous, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Only 76 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Watrous has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Watrous’ residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.000% of the land near Watrous burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
With 0% forest fuel within 5 km and 0% within 25 km, the land around Watrous gives a fire little to burn.
Shares of land within 5 and 25 km of populated blocks: burned at least once in 1986–2025 (CWFIS burned-area composite), forest fuel and grass (fire behaviour fuel types, 2026, 250 m grid).
Burn rate a year, towns in Saskatchewan · highest of 105
La Loche has the highest burn rate in Saskatchewan, 1.94% a year; around Watrous, as around 55 of the 105 towns, it rounds to zero.
Each bar: the yearly average share of land within 25 km of a town’s homes that burned, 1986–2025 (CWFIS); the seven highest towns of 2,500 people or more.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Watrous is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 7.5% rank higher.
Bands of the yearly burn rate: low under 0.05%, moderate under 0.25%, high under 1%, very high 1% or more; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Canadian Wildland Fire Information System: National Burned Area Composite 1986–2025 and fire behaviour fuel types (2026), Natural Resources Canada. Measured within 25 km and 5 km of each populated dissemination area; past fire, not a forecast.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Watrous
Flood studies whose area touches Watrous, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Nationally, Watrous has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Saskatchewan reaches 55% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Watrous.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Watrous floods.
The inventory’s own caution (NRCan): “The Canada Flood Map (CFM) does not include every flood hazard map in Canada and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies. It should not be relied upon as the official source of flood mapping information. Furthermore, if a map appears to be missing, this does not necessarily mean that the area has never been mapped. For the official version of a map, updated information, or confirmation of applicable regulations, please contact the local authority responsible for flood mapping.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Watrous just $0.007 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Watrous’ $0.007 is a fraction of the typical town’s $0.030 (0.2 times as much): quiet ground by Canadian standards.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Watrous at $0.007 beside a median in Saskatchewan of $0.006, with Weyburn on top at $0.033.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Watrous is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 88% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
Each column: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more in that range of yearly loss per $1,000 (NRCan, 2022).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Watrous is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Some radon around Watrous: 6.6% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Around Watrous, 6.6% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Watrous doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Saskatoon RHA.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Watrous than in most towns in Saskatchewan: 6.6% against 9.1%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
A middling share of high tests puts Watrous with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
Each bar: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more whose survey area had that share of tests over 200 Bq/m³.
Radon varies from house to house in Watrous, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Watrous
Alerts for Watrous come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| Alert | What it means |
|---|---|
| Warning | Severe weather is happening or about to: act now. |
| Watch | Conditions favour severe weather: be ready. |
| Advisory | Weather that is less severe but could disrupt the day. |
| Special weather statement | Unusual weather worth knowing about. |
| Special air quality statement | Poor air, often wildfire smoke. |
Evacuation orders for Watrous come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Watrous faces
What to do about the hazards Watrous faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- Test for three months in winter.
- Over 200 Bq/m³: fix it.
- Kits are cheap; pros test too.
- Never drive through floodwater.
- Move papers and medicines upstairs.
- Ask whether your street is mapped.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Watrous.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Watrous until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Watrous’ included.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Watrous without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Watrous
Is radon a problem in Watrous?
In Health Canada’s survey, 6.6% of 76 homes tested in Watrous’ area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How is Watrous’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Watrous A, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Watrous at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Watrous (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
How big is the earthquake risk in Watrous?
Expected earthquake damage in Watrous comes to $0.007 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Watrous flood?
Nothing is listed for Watrous on the national inventory (0); local maps may still exist with the municipality.
Seismic risk: Natural Resources Canada. Radon: Health Canada. Wildfire: Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. Flood studies: Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Sources: NRCan, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model 2022 · Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes · CWFIS, National Burned Area Composite and FBP fuel types · NRCan, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).