One of dozens of farms and ranchers left under water following flash flooding in Cypress County in the spring of 2010. (CHAT News file photo)

By Alex McCuaig

Flood Mitigation

Regional flood mitigation program taking small step to realization

Mar 4, 2020 | 9:13 AM

DUNMORE, AB – A nearly $170 million flood mitigation project for southeastern Alberta is nearing the start of its first phase with Cypress County councillors voting Tuesday to support funding for the Horsefly spillway near Taber.

The three-phase Southern Regional Stormwater Management Plan was developed in the aftermath of the 2010 floods in southeastern Alberta which saw a combination of record snow accumulations melting and heavy rains during June of that year.

Once built, the Horsefly spillway will give the St. Mary’s River Irrigation District the ability to divert water to the Oldman River rather than flowing into the downstream main canal or the Seven Persons Creek.

The spillway has received funding support from both the provincial and federal governments but has $46 million shortfall which will require municipalities to pitch in if the project is fully built out.

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Cypress County Coun. Dustin Vossler says while the county will need to wait 20 years before upgrades to Murray Reservoir near Seven Persons, there is a need to address the problem at the headwaters of the problem.

“If you start at the bottom and you are not controlling where it’s coming from on the top end, it’s still giving you the same amount of risk,” said Vossler who represents the district around Seven Persons.

“If we can control a lot of the water flow that is coming down this way – which will start essentially with that Horsefly project that they are proposing – it’s going to help down the line.”

The plan was developed by a joint-municipal Regional Drainage Committee formed to develop the 30-year flood mitigation effort.

The county’s representitive, Ernest Mudie says the efforts from the regional municipalities is consistent with those across the southern portion of the province which has seen a number of flooding events in the past 25 years.

“With the drainage committee, we’ve looked at creating alternative spillways to reduce the water coming this way from Chin Lake, St. Mary’s (irrigation) projects which will take a lot of pressure off the Seven Persons Creek.”

While council passed a motion Tuesday to support the grant application to the Alberta Community Partnership fund, councillors did raise some concerns about Cypress County’s contribution to the first phase of the project.

Concerns Mudie believes can be resolved.

And it’s in the best interests of communities in and around Medicine Hat to figure this out because, “we’re downstream and water runs downhill,” said Mudie.