Dickson Dam regulates the flow of the Red Deer River to control for floods and low winter flows, to improve quality of the river, to create a recreational resource and to provide a reliable, year-round water supply sufficient for future industrial, regional and municipal growth.

[7] Gleniffer Reservoir PRA has trout ponds including one at Dickson Point which is popular for ice fishing.

[2] Increased water flow of the Red Deer River system during heavy rainfall in June 2008 eroded supporting soil, freely exposing a section of Pembina Pipeline Corporation's Cremona crude oil pipeline to the Red Deer River currents.

About 75 to 125 barrels (11.9 to 19.9 m3) of crude oil flowed upstream from the breakpoint under a Red Deer River channel, leaving an oily sheen on Gleniffer Reservoir and 6,800 kilograms (15,000 lb) of oil-soaked debris.

[10] Heavy rains in early June 2012 caused a similar but larger leak on a Plains Midstream Canada 46-year-old pipeline at Jackson Creek which spilled between 1,000 and 3,000 barrels (160 and 480 m3) of light sour crude into the Red Deer River.