Province of Alberta announces $25 million in grants to local governments for flood mitigation projects

The province of Alberta has announced nearly $25 million in grants to local governments for several flood mitigation projects that will “protect families, businesses and Alberta’s economy from the threat of natural disasters.”

The grants, announced in Calgary on Friday, are under the Alberta Community Resilience Program (ACRP). They include nearly $25 million for five municipalities and one First Nation to build flood barriers, protect or relocate critical water management infrastructure, and address public safety and access issues, the Office of the Premier said in a press release.

“It’s been two and a half years since floodwaters swept across southern Alberta, devastating families and businesses and inflicting serious damage to our infrastructure and economy,” Premier Rachel Notley said in the release. “As we move forward with the Springbank Reservoir project, it’s critical to also invest in our local flood defences to ensure people are safe, infrastructure is protected, and businesses continue to operate without interruption.”

Many of the communities impacted by the June 2013 floods will receive funding through the second round of ACRP grant approvals, including Calgary, Turner Valley, Municipal District of Bighorn and Siksika Nation.

Projects approved for funding in the Calgary region include:

• Construction of a berm, along with groundwater and stormwater management enhancements, to protect the City of Calgary’s Bonnybrook wastewater treatment plant;

• Construction of a flood protection berm along the Bow River in Calgary, downstream of Eau Claire to the Peace Bridge;

• Relocation of water wells on Siksika Nation;

• Raising existing berms and constructing a new berm to protect the East Midland, Newcastle, and central Drumheller areas;

• Installation of a gravity outfall north of Highway 1A and upgrades to Westmere Stormwater Pond in Chestermere;

• Relocation of the sanitary forcemain in Turner Valley; and

• Structural mitigation to manage debris flood risks on Heart Creek near the Hamlet of Lac Des Arc and the Trans-Canada Highway, including a 350 metre diversion berm at the Trans-Canada Highway near Heart Creek and a diversion channel below highway grade.

“This is an important contribution on our community-based flood resiliency work,” Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said. “I look forward to getting to shovels in the ground right away on these projects.”

The grant announcement came on the same day the provincial government and emergency management experts were scheduled to wrap up a three-day emergency exercise in an attempt to help better prepare Alberta for future disasters.

Representatives from all levels of government, First Nations, industry and emergency management agencies teamed up from Feb. 24 to 26 to review and test their emergency plans to ensure they are well coordinated for disasters, Alberta Municipal Affairs said in a statement on Thursday. Every year, the province holds an emergency management exercise to improve the way it responds to disasters.

Six Alberta communities – Dene Tha’ First Nation, the MD of Greenview, the City of Airdrie, Kneehill County, and the towns of Redcliff and Trochu – participated in the exercise.

This year’s training builds on the learnings from the 2015 exercise of a mock extreme ice storm, the statement said. Multiple response scenarios will once again be set up across the province, including people trapped in collapsed buildings, motorists stranded on closed highways, power outages and train derailments. In addition, a mock provincial state of emergency will be declared.

These scenarios provide emergency responders with the opportunity to improve their skills, for co-ordinators in the provincial operations centre to test their response procedures and to train government officials in their roles and responsibilities, the government said.

“We know you can never be too prepared when it comes to disasters, so ongoing training is crucial,” said Minister of Municipal Affairs, Danielle Larivee, in the statement. “In fact, a key recommendation in the independent review of the 2013 floods we released in December encouraged government to conduct more training exercises like this.”