Residents, officials clash over future flood strategy
Pros and cons of upstream dam debated
Residents of well-heeled inner-city neighbourhoods debated government officials and a prominent geologist Tuesday night over the best way to defend their riverside properties against future flooding.
Inside a jam-packed-ball room at the Glencoe Club, organizer and east Elbow Park resident Greg Clark led calls for the province to explore upstream flood mitigation.
“We want them to tackle the root cause,” Clark said. “What we don’t want is to pump out our basements five years from now and find a way for somebody to pay for it.”
Clark, a flood victim who’s put aside political partisanship to speak for his community, pointed to a report from the non-profit firm Alberta Water-SMART in pleading the case for a collective solution.
Citing a separate media report, he noted every dollar spent on upstream flood protection saves $15 in potential downstream damages.
However, that put him at odds with Jerry Osborn, a University of Calgary geologist, who termed high-budget up stream flood mitigation projects a “non-starter.” Osborn described two large-scale means of flood-control: a dam and a bypass.
There are few places suitable for a small dam, he told the crowd, adding it would only be partly effective anyway. Osborn also argued adding a bypass similar to Winnipeg’s Red River flood-way comes with a host of technical problems.
In terms of lower-cost solutions, he suggested they would do little to prevent the next big river disaster.
“This is a very tough nut to crack,” Osborn said.
He went on to say dredging out the Glenmore Reservoir would be somewhat effective, but cautioned that followup work would need to be done every five years.
Osborn also dismissed the idea of river dikes, noting it would likely require the demolition of many houses along the Bow and Elbow rivers.
“The whole point of living on the river is so you can sit in your lawn chair and sip a mint julep and watch the water go by,” he added.
The crowd met that suggestion with a chorus of groans.
Some in attendance had a front-row seat to watch the Elbow River overflow its banks during the historic June deluge, and they spoke passionately about the need to prevent future waterway disasters.
During the question-andanswer period, homeowners called for concrete timelines on a flood-mitigation plan.
“Lines in the sand need to be drawn,” acknowledged James Allen, chief of staff for the Southern Alberta Recovery Task Force. “Have we figured those out yet? No we haven’t.”
Allen added the provincial government is acting as quickly as possible, but said the province must get widespread feedback along the way.
“It’s not just about one community,” he said.
Throughout the meeting, Allen and other officials said the province is exploring infrastructure projects, but only as a complement to individual flood-control solutions.
Big swaths of Elbow Park, Rideau Park and Roxboro fall in the pink hues of the provincial flood hazard maps, dubbed the “flood fringe” zone. There, homeowners have been told to undertake special flood mitigation projects such as berms, stilts or flood-proof seals if they want provincial aid in the case of another massive inundation.
Experts warn rebuilding on high-risk flood plains is courting yet another disaster. And some critical Calgary taxpayers say they shouldn’t be on the hook to help millionaires whose stately houses back onto the Elbow River.
However, inner-city residents also point to the diversity of their communities, which are dotted with low-income seniors housing and low-rise walk-up apartments — in addition to some of the city’s toniest digs.
Tuesday’s meeting was attended by prominent Calgarians Allan Markin and Richard Lindseth, who were recently appointed to a provincial advisory panel on community flood mitigation, as well as Transportation Minister Ric McIver, associate minister Rick Fraser and Calgary-Centre MP Joan Crockatt.