Mountain View County (MVC) has sent a letter to the provincial minister of environment and parks and the provincial minister of municipal affairs requesting the government take action to address flooding concerns on the Bearberry Creek and the Red Deer River upstream of Sundre.
Signed by MVC reeve Bruce Beattie, the letter to Shannon Phillips and Danielle Larivee calls on the province to “provide an action plan for flooding mitigation with respect to the Red Deer River to mitigate future flood events that would impact the Town of Sundre and upstream Mountain View County.
“It is our opinion that the river is under both provincial and federal jurisdiction and therefore it should be the responsibility of government to identify and implement a plan to mitigate the potential for flooding, which would devastate the Town of Sundre and impact Mountain View County area, as well as potentially contaminate the water quality to the many downstream users if significant overland flooding were to occur.”
In the letter, the county asks the province to allow the Town of Sundre and Mountain View County to make use of funds allocated to the upstream berm project for other flood mitigation efforts.
The letter also calls on the province to take “immediate action on the Bearberry Creek to remove constrictions that increase the chance of flooding.
“A constriction in an area of the creek identified many years ago can easily be addressed which would result in better flow and less chance of flooding. This is an example of how the collaboration would like to redirect the (grant) funding from the berm to other projects that have a high impact on flood mitigation in the area.”
The letter mentioned examinations the county and town have already made regarding flooding concerns.
“After spending $250,000 on engineering studies to identify potential downstream impacts of a berm that would serve to protect against the newly defined 1:100 year design flood, it was determined that the potential for liability after construction of such a berm would far exceed what either the town or municipalities would be willing to accept.
“Also, after extensive engineering work, additional monies would be required to extend the length and increase the height of the berm, increase the height of the already existing dykes in the Town of Sundre, and armor the southern banks of the river, which also factored into the decision of the collaboration to halt further work on the berm project.”
The letter was sent to the ministers on Feb. 29 and no reply has yet been received, Reeve Bruce Beattie said last week.
