Dr. Gabriel met with City Councillors at City Hall (more to follow)

Dr. Emile Gabriel is meeting with City of Calgary councillors, bringing the message that we believe Flood Protection should be the top priority of City Council. The 2013 flood showed how vulnerable our City of Calgary and river communities are because we have built on flood plains close to steep mountains. The six upstream dams on the Bow River have considerably moderated the effects of flooding along its banks, but we have no upstream protection (in the mountains) for the Elbow, Sheep or Highwood Rivers. Now is the time to have the Tri-River Joint Reservoir of Alberta (TRJR) option really examined by the best minds in our environmental, hydrology and dam construction communities, and find the best solution for Albertans. Last summer in the Ottawa River Basin their nine dams had to cope with historic water levels that had not been seen in 55 years, but Quebec Environment Minister Heurtel reported that the structures were safe and up to the challenge. “Our dams are made to withstand flows that you see once every 10,000 years. Although this is big, this is not one of those. We have lots of capacity left”. He reported the volume peaked at 9000 cubic metres per second downstream but, he said, “We’d be over 11,000 cubic metres per second” if the dams weren’t holding back the water. See http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/ottawa-river-hydro-dams-doing-their-job-says-quebec-environment-minister-1.4105058. It is hard to understand how our Alberta government currently believes that flood protection will be provided to our great city with a dam (the Springbank Off-Stream Dry Dam) NOT designed to be built to Canadian Dam Safety Regulations and only large enough to protect from a 1:40 year flood. Where is the common sense in using taxpayer funds for a project doomed to fail when we have the next extreme weather event looming? The Springbank Dry Dam was supposedly chosen because it would be quick and cheap. It certainly has not been “quick” or “cheap”: costs continue to rise and gaps remain in the environmental assessment rejected at the federal level for an embarrassingly “incomplete” submission. And still we continue to decimate the flood absorption capacity of our land through the infilling of wetlands and pending infilling of a section of the Elbow River Valley (via the construction of the South West Ring Road) – construction that has been deemed to violate wetlands policy by the courts, yet is still being pushed through anyway (though better construction choices are available) and this is considered progress? By who’s measure? What is there is to gain by placing the residents of that area, including the Tsuu T`ina Nation and Discovery Ridge, at such risk? We can build a better bridge for the South West Ring Road (see YYCCares.ca for more information) and yes, we can do better for upstream flood mitigation by conducting a feasibility assessment on the TRJR. TRJR, if given the necessary feasibility assessment and due process, has the possibility of providing protection to all the Elbow River communities in 18 months. Please give your support to this option being approved for the consideration it deserves and contact your city councillo, MLA and MP and demand better flood mitigation options (such as the TRJR) be pursued. Please study www.preventingalbertafloods.ca and lend your support to the Comprehensive Flood and Water Management Council (via Dr. Gabriel) during upcoming meetings with Calgary city councillors.