I N 2 0 1 3 , C A LG A R I A N S F RO M A L L O V E R T H E C I T Y C A M E TO H E L P W I T H C L E A N U P E F F O RT S I N H A R D - H I T CO M M U N I T I E S .
FLOOD OF PROGRESS The City of Calgary’s Flood Resilience Plan includes three areas of work: upstream flood protection, community level protection and property level protection. In addition to building and partnership planning, better monitoring and updated emergency response plans also help protect the city against flooding in the future. These are some of the building projects at various stages of completion for flood mitigation. GLENMORE DAM GATES (complete). New 2.5-m-high steel gates on the dam double the reservoir’s storage capacity.
62
THE REAL STORY OF HOW THE REGION RESPONDED, AND HOW IT NOW MANAGES ITS WATER, HAS MORE TO DO WITH THOSE NEIGHBOURS RUSHING IN TO HELP.
BOW RIVER RESERVOIR OPTIONS The Province is currently assessing three options for a reservoir on the Bow. GHOST LAKE RESERVOIR OPERATIONS AGREEMENT The Province and TransAlta have an agreement to keep the Ghost Lake Reservoir levels low during flood season in order to help control the river’s flow. PERMANENT FLOOD BARRIERS Barriers in Downtown, West Eau Claire, HillhurstSunnyside, Inglewood, Bowness, Heritage Drive and the Bonnybrook Water Treatment Plant are in various states of completion. SUNNYSIDE STORMWATER LIFT STATIONS (complete). Pump Station #1 has a new lift station and Pump Station #2 has been improved. SANITARY LIFT STATIONS (complete). Both the Sunnyside and Roxboro sanitary lift stations have been completed. may/june 2023
P H OTO BY J A R E D SYC H
nity evacuations and bridge closures. “We realized that, in the same way that the Bow and Elbow River catchments that provide the water to Calgary are so much bigger than the municipal jurisdiction of Calgary itself, the solutions need to be much bigger than just the geographic landscape or the political and social landscape of the local municipality,” Frigo says. His department now has the tools it needs; sewers have been upgraded; flood walls, a dry dam, berms and more have been constructed from the outskirts of the city right to its core. There has even been some room for beauty, integrating flood mitigation with public spaces along the river’s edge. But the real story of how the region responded, and how it now manages its water, has more to do with those neighbours rushing in to help than it does any of the bricks, mortar, earth, bits, bytes and radars that reduce the city’s flood risk. It’s about collaboration. And it’s about people. “I can tell you that many of the relationships internally that I built in responding to the flood remain important to carrying on the work that we’ve done since then, in terms of recovery and resilience,” Frigo says. “I’m happy to say we’re in a really, really different place today.” This story has been updated to correct errors in the budget for the Springbank Off-Stream Reservoir.
SPRINGBANK RESERVOIR (under construction). When complete, this reservoir, combined with the extra capacity at Glenmore, would protect Elbow River communities from flooding at the level seen in 2013.
