Prentice OK’S flood mitigation projects
Dry reservoir plan angers residents, mayor
Premier Jim Prentice’s suite of flood mitigation announcements, including the approval of a massive dry reservoir west of the city, was met with skepticism by an incredulous Calgary mayor and outrage from Springbank landowners.
“We do not believe one community should be destroyed in an effort to try to protect another,” said Ryan Robinson, spokesman for the Don’t Damn Springbank group. “Is this what landowner’s rights means to this government?”
On Friday, Prentice announced the province was committed to building a dry reservoir in Springbank and a diversion canal for the Highwood River in three years to prevent flooding in Calgary and High River.
The premier also pledged to immediately triple the number of Disaster Recovery Program staff from six to 18 to clear outstanding claims by the end of 2014.
“The last thing that victims of last year’s flood need is more red tape,” Prentice told reporters.
According to the province, 8,000 of 10,500 DRP claims have been closed and 677 files are currently under appeal, including 120 in Calgary and 338 in High River.
The head of a local homeowners advocacy group praised the announcement, saying the problemplagued DRP process has devastated and exhausted many people over the past 15 months.
“Promises were made that were perhaps incapable of being met given the nature of what the DRP is in the first place, which is really a base level recovery emergency fund,” said Emma May, president for the Calgary River Communities Action group.
May urged DRP claimants to file an appeal if they are unsatisfied with their settlement, because they could receive a higher compensation.
“We’re going to stick around and hold (Prentice’s) feet to the fire and make sure this gets done,” she added.
Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark, who is running for a seat in the upcoming byelection in Calgary Elbow, said the announcement falls short in addressing the ongoing problems with the DRP.
“It’s amazing to me that there were only six people working on it in the first place,” Clark said in a phone interview. “They’d have to close two files a day between now and the end of the year to get through the 2,500 files that are still outstanding,” he added. “I don’t think there’s any way they can do it frankly.”
In addition to adding more DRP staff, the province has now committed to two massive projects to mitigate future flooding in Calgary and High River.
Further, Prentice said the province is committed to negotiating a longterm agreement with TransAlta to ensure the Ghost Reservoir would be able to accommodate flood waters along the Bow River to further protect Calgary.
But Mayor Naheed Nenshi said the announcements are a “significant departure” from earlier policy and that the province did not consult with city flood experts on the Springbank reservoir or the water management agreement with Transalta beforehand.
“It represents a real departure from the previous plan, where the reservoir would have played a role in both flood and drought years,” Nenshi said in a written statement.
“This dry dam would not be used except during a flood and would not allow for comprehensive water management, what the province had previously stated was their goal for this project.”
Nenshi said he would ask provincial officials to share engineering studies with the city to back up claims the two projects would protect Calgary during 1-in-100 and 1-in-200-year flood events.
“It is surprising that the province would announce one project without having completed the analysis on the impact of the other two projects, since they all must be analyzed together,” Nenshi said.
For High River, the community hardest hit in the 2013 flood, the province settled on building a canal that would divert water from the Highwood River south of the town and into the Little Bow River.
“It’s anticipated that this diversion will provide one-in-300-year flood protection to the residents of High River,” Prentice said.
The province had considered three routes for the diversion canal: south, north and a south-north split.
High River Mayor Craig Snodgrass welcomed the announcement, but said he would have liked to see the province opt for the south-north split. Regardless, he said the south-only option was preferable to the north route.
“It’s a much faster project to get moving and get completed,” Snodgrass said, noting a northern split could be added at a later date.
“We can deal with it then,” he added. “But we need things done here sooner than later.”
A dry reservoir will now be constructed in the Springbank area to steer flood water from the Elbow River to protect Calgary.
Each flood mitigation project will cost an estimated $150 million to $200 million and be completed in three years, Prentice said during a news conference.
The Springbank reservoir was one of three mitigation proposals under consideration, which also included a dry dam near McLean Creek and a diversion tunnel in Calgary.
Government officials previously said building the dry reservoir would cost about $190 million — a price tag that didn’t include land acquisition costs.
The province is still analyzing a feasibility study for a $500-million diversion tunnel in Calgary that would steer water from the Glenmore Reservoir to the Bow River via a five-kilometre tunnel beneath Heritage Drive.
The Springbank dry reservoir would only be used during flood events “when people downstream are at risk,” and would require relocating or raising homes in the affected area, he added.
“What this innovative solution does is it better addresses the concerns of landowners and Springbank residents than the original proposal that did call for a water reservoir,” Prentice said.
Springbank landowners would be “fully and fairly” compensated to the “standard required by law” for any damage caused to their land and livelihoods in the event of a flood, Prentice said.
But the coalition of Springbank landowners and environmentalists blasted the province for approving the dry reservoir, claiming the government did not adequately consult with residents and chose the reservoir because it was a “politically convenient option.”
“There are options, like McLean Creek, that do not destroy communities, offer protection from flooding to rural communities like Bragg Creek and Redwood Meadows, and offer even greater protection to the City of Calgary,” Robinson said.
He said the group would launch a “well-co-ordinated campaign to vigorously oppose” the reservoir.
Prentice defended the Springbank dry reservoir as the “most cost-effective” and “most environmentally defensible solution in the immediate term.”
While negotiations with landowners living within the boundaries of the dry reservoir would be handled with sensitivity, the government often needs to make difficult decisions, he added.
“Government involves tough decisions and tough choices,” Prentice said. “And our government is intent on making those choices.”