This week, the federal government announced $8.7 million in funding for flood mitigation projects in Alberta as part of the National Disaster Mitigation Program.
Information on the 21 projects (18 planned/underway, 3 completed) that will receive funding is available from Public Safety Canada here: National Disaster Mitigation Program funding to the Province of Alberta: Projects at a glance.
We’ve provided a bit more detail on the three projects that will impact Calgarians specifically.
City of Calgary – Stormwater Risk Assessment
- Total Project Value: $250,000
- Federal funding: $125,000
- Provincial funding: $100,000
- City of Calgary funding: $25,000
- Project Start Date: April 2, 2018 (2 year project)
The project is a City-wide review of rainfall flooding risk to identify stormwater vulnerabilities in Calgary communities and to better enhance resilience to urban flooding issues.
The project will not include a review of river-related flooding mechanisms. This is a new project with no previous iterations, and because it has just started recently, there are no website links to direct you to yet.
Flood Risk Mitigation Through Improved Forecasting and Warning
- Total Project Value: $200,000
- Federal funding: $100,000
- Provincial funding: $80,000
- City of Calgary funding: $20,000
- Project Start Date: April 1, 2018 (2 year project)
This project is part of a comprehensive program to update the forecasting system and improve warning mechanisms to reduce flood risk and decrease flood damages.
Specifically, this project aims to improve the Province’s hydrometric (e.g. rainfall and flow) monitoring and flow forecasting platform. The improvements will enhance the integration of real-time observations for flow forecasting. The project is in early days and scoping is currently underway.
With regard to current warning systems, the City and Province monitor a network of meteorological and hydrometric flow stations that are owned and operated by Water Survey Canada or Alberta Environment and Parks. AEP’s River Forecast Centre issues advisories and warnings through the website rivers.alberta.ca. For additional detail on forecasting, visit the AEP’s FAQ page.
During flood season (May 15 to July 15), City staff also monitor weather and flow conditions using existing stations, live field cameras, or field flow measurements. City staff model flow conditions and prepare flow forecasts for the Bow and Elbow Rivers. This information is shared with Water’s Business Continuity and Emergency Management Division and/or CEMA if required.
If conditions are severe, public alerts can be pushed through the Alberta Emergency Alert System.
Alberta Flood Awareness Map Application
- Total Project Value: $1,000,000
- Federal funding: $500,000
- Provincial funding: $500,000
- Project Start Date: April 1, 2018 (2 year project)
This project will design, create, and populate an online Flood Awareness Map Application that will allow users to view and interact with provincial inundation maps and other available historic flood information.
The availability of these maps on a mobile application will be used to ensure future developments are not built in areas where flooding has been identified as a concern. In the event of a flood, the map will benefit emergency responders by both helping them decide the best route of evacuation and informing the best location for the construction of temporary flood control barriers.
The RFP for this project explains that:
“More than 60 provincial flood hazard studies have been created over the last 30 years. These studies have produced high-quality flood mapping that identifies flood risks along more than 90 different rivers, creeks and streams. More than 500 km of existing flood inundation mapping is currently inaccessible to the majority of the public because it is only available in hard copy or PDF format.“
Keep in mind, this project will incorporate existing flood hazard maps. We are still waiting on news regarding updated flood maps for Calgary as well as updates on Floodway Development Regulations.
The current flood hazard map application can be accessed here: http://maps.srd.alberta.ca/floodhazard/.
If you have questions or comments for us, please reach out to info@crcactiongroup.com.
Regards,
Your CRCAG Board