Federal funding boosts local flood projects
Calgary’s riverside neighbourhoods can’t help but feel anxious every spring. As the waters rise, so does tension in communities like Hillhurst, Sunnyside and Kensington.
A federal funding announcement Thursday should help alleviate some of those fears, says area councillor Druh Farrell who recounted the fierce battle waged in 2013 by Sunnyside residents and volunteers who tried to hold off flood waters and sewer backup.
“If we remember a few days after the flood and everyone was starting to get back on their feet, there was a major rain storm but the gates were still closed because the river was high and so the community was flooded for a second time. And that was just devastating for the community.
“And every spring they worry about flood resiliency,” Farrell said at the announcement at Poppy Plaza on Memorial Drive, where a week after it opened, the Bow River rose to almost the top of the steps beside 10th Street N.W.
“My worry is that Calgarians have started to forget about the flood ... We have to continually remind Calgarians that we have a responsibility to protect our communities from flood, it’ll happen again, and we need to be ready for it.”
The federal government is contributing up to $10.4 million to a flood mitigation project that includes construction of a pump station in Sunnyside and a berm east of the Bonnybook wastewater treatment plant to coincide with an expansion already underway.
The Alberta government will add $11.4 million for the flood protection berm while the city will cover the remaining $10.9 million of the total estimated cost of $32.8 million.
The work on the berm and the lift station, which will pump excess surface water back into the river, is expected to be completed by the end of spring 2017, hopefully in time for next year’s flood season, said Farrell.
Calgary Skyview MP Darshan Kang, who announced the federal contribution, said the money is part of the Liberal government’s $180-billion, 10-year infrastructure plan.
Other flood projects funded include $5.5 million for Bragg Creek and $14.4 million for Cougar Creek flood mitigation in Canmore.