Earlier this year, the provincial government announced three upstream storage options for the Bow River that were identified in the Bow River Water Management Project report in May 2017.   This month, Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP) awarded the contract for the Bow Basin Water Management Options Phase 1: Conceptual Assessment study (value $2M) to Wood Canada Limited, specifically its Environment & Infrastructure Solutions team located in Calgary.   Wood Canada Limited is a subsidiary […]

See! Big upstream mitigation projects can get regulatory approval!   Last week, the Natural Resources Conservation Board (NRCB) issued approval of the Cougar Creek debris and flood retention structure, after a review by the NRCB found the project to be in the public interest.   This is a huge milestone, bringing Canmore one step closer to getting the flood protection it so badly needs. It is also an encouraging development, […]

Earlier this year at our AGM, we welcomed Flood Free Calgary to the crusade for upstream mitigation in Calgary. They’ve been rallying the business community and emphasizing the message of economic risk; highlighting that if we lose our downtown core we will ALL lose.   They recently published a few blog posts with updates on upstream mitigation on the Bow River, West Eau Claire Park, and the Centre Street Bridge flood barrier that […]

We understand there are many documents to navigate in order to fully understand the progression of the Springbank Off-Stream Reservoir Project (SR1), so we have compiled a list of key documents to make that process a bit easier.   We’ve included dates and notes to help you understand why these documents are important and where they fall on the SR1 timeline.   Key documents relating specifically to Springbank Off-Stream Reservoir […]

Over the past few months, the Calgary River Valleys organization has been working to improve riparian health on the banks of the Elbow River.   A test site has been established in the riparian zone of an Elbow River-adjacent property and, through the use of this model project, the group hopes to:   Research about people’s knowledge of riparian issues, Complete field work to modify an Elbow River adjacent homeowner’s riparian zone with new […]

In a letter to Alberta Transportation’s (proponent of the Springbank Off-Stream Reservoir Project) Minister Brian Mason last month, Calgary-Elbow MLA Greg Clark called on the government to ensure they undertake comprehensive, two-way consultation with Indigenous peoples.   Read the September 28 media release publicizing the letter here.    Reflecting on the recent Federal Court of Appeals ruling on the Trans Mountain pipeline and the focus on Indigenous consultation contained in the […]

Bow River Basin Council’s quarterly education forum a valuable resource for watershed information   The Bow River Basin Council hosted their quarterly educational forum last month. We found the event to be very informative and we encourage you to attend future events.   For those who missed it, we’ve summarized the event and provided links to a few of the presentations.   The BRBC forums are free events open to the public. […]

In May 2018, a Notice of Application was filed by six landowners seeking to quash the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA)’s decision that the revised Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) conformed to the required guidelines set forth earlier by the CEAA.   We’ve learned that this application has been withdrawn. The federal court hearing that was scheduled for November has been canceled and this matter will not proceed any further.   […]

In June, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) submitted a 16 question information request (IR) to Alberta Transportation requesting more information relating to the Springbank Off-Stream Reservoir Project (SR1) Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).   Since then, two more IR packages have been submitted to Alberta Transportation, Part 2 on August 20 and Part 3 on August 31, which together with the first IR total 86 questions.   The questions are quite detailed and […]

Earlier this year, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) invited public comments on the potential environmental effects of the Springbank Project and on the proposed measures to prevent or mitigate those effects as described in the EIA.   The CEAA received over 700 public comments, which are all now publicly available online here.   We’ve read through some of the comments and although most of what we read were copy-paste letters, there were also […]