On September 17, 2020, the County’s Public Works department provided County Council with an update on efforts to help mitigate overland flooding in the County.  

This work was prompted by major overland flooding that occurred this spring, which resulted in extensive damage to County roads and infrastructure. Back in August, Council approved an estimated $1.015 million to move forward with addressing several priority surface water management issues affecting the County’s infrastructure as recommended by Public Works.  

“Through our investigation in the key areas, we have done what we can to address surface water management issues, including repairing and replacing culverts and repairing ditches” said Dale Van Volkinburgh, Director of Public Works. “In some instances, we will require landowner permission to access their land to prevent future flooding, and we are working with property owners to coordinate efforts and address any concerns. We appreciate the cooperation we have received from landowners we have worked with to date.”  

While the County has made significant progress on addressing issues on municipal reserves and rights-of-way, some of the issues are the result of certain activities taking place on private property.  

“We did find some beaver dams that were causing issues, and we are working with Problem Wildlife Specialists in our Agriculture department to assist with safe dam removal,” said Van Volkingburgh. “We have also set up a new problem category on our collector app to report locations where there are issues with beavers and muskrats to help us address them quickly.”  

Of more concern, though, are landowner activities that are potentially causing drainage issues.  

“Through our investigations, we did identify some areas where landowner activity has blocked drainage, causing issues on other properties,” said Van Volkingburgh. “We understand and appreciate the need for individual landowners to take preventative measures to stop flooding on their own property, but these actions can cause problems for others, including damage to County infrastructure and surrounding private property. Rather than trying to address drainage issues on their own, we encourage landowners to first consult with the County and adjacent property owners to determine the cause and come up with potential solutions.”  

The County has applied for financial assistance through the Government of Alberta’s Disaster Recovery Program (DRP) to cover the costs of the flood mitigation efforts. However, there may be limited opportunity to access these funds in the future, leaving the County responsible to cover the costs of future repairs and upgrades. As well, the County is ineligible to receive DRP funding for private property flooding issues.