The Mcqueen Of Riprap

[Neil Waugh]

This just in from Redford Central

 

"August 9, 2013
New support to communities for flood erosion damage

Alberta is providing dedicated funding to help restore damaged lands in flood-affected communities.

“While some communities have already done good work to re-contour creeks and stabilize channels, we need to better ensure the long-term stability of the banks and the safety of residents," said Diana McQueen, Minister of Environment and Sustainable Resource Development. “This is a significant milestone in flood recovery and future mitigation, and we will be working together with local municipalities as we move forward.”

The province will provide this new funding directly to municipalities - details will be finalized in the coming weeks. This funding is in addition to assistance provided through the Disaster Recovery Program. Disaster Recovery Program funding helps communities, homeowners, and small businesses rebuild to a functional and safe state and covers damages to buildings and structures caused by uninsurable events. However, outside of this minimum replacement and restoration of land for structural safety, additional work is not covered. This new funding will help address this additional erosion control work.

Physical barriers, such as rocks or boulders, are often used as erosion controls as they armor a river or stream bed against water or ice erosion. Bridge abutments and pilings are other techniques used for erosion control.

“Time is of the essence,” said Kyle Fawcett, Associate Minister for Recovery and Reconstruction of Southwest Alberta. “That’s why we’re providing additional funding immediately for the restoration of highly-eroded sites in these communities."

In total, the government will provide approximately $20 million in immediate financial support.

The province will continue to work with flood-affected municipalities to determine which communities need additional funding for erosion control work. Areas already identified include:

• Canmore (Cougar Creek);
• Calgary (Bow River);
• Sheep River (Black Diamond to Okotoks - including Threepoint Creek);
• Exshaw (Exshaw Creek and Jura Creek);
• Lac des Arcs (Bow River);
• Crowsnest Pass (Lyons Creek);
• Highwood River (upstream of High River); and
• Bragg Creek (Elbow River).

Costs of individual projects are still to be determined.

Our government was elected to keep building Alberta, to live within its means and to fight to open new markets for Alberta’s resources. We will continue to deliver the responsible change Albertans voted for."

 

 

How many miles of riprapped Bow River trout habitat do you reckon this buys. No environmental impact study, no critical habitat assessment, "time is of the essence", let the rock trucks roll.

All so Redford (who was rockin' at 29% popularity before the flood) gets to look good before the PC leadership review on Nov. 22.

 

 

[bcubed]

I'm more concerned about 're contouring creeks' (as is happening in High River..how do you RE-contour something that is naturally contoured is beyond me) then rip-rapping banks. Rip-rap provides more habitat then a straight dirt cut, same can't be said about a dredged river.

[tieflyer]

They will turn the Bow into a Northern version of the Mississippi. Might as well call in US Corp of Engineers.

High River project will simply transfer the problem downstream.

The only step worse from here would be to put Danielle in charge.

 

[Jayhad]

$20,000,000 between 8 projects, should be able to make some real changes with that type of cash............ sheeesh,

[LastBoyScout]

Let's fix it good. Digging channels deeper? Wonder how that will hold up next time.

[troutfriend]

Rivers move and migrate naturally. They always will.

Once a community, bridge or house is constructed in the floodplain it then becomes something that governments are obliged to protect, and the easiest and cheapest way to do this is with riprap. Communities, bridges and houses have advocates, a voice and a well defined value. Rivers become an inconvenience and will sadly loose out in every case. This happens around the world... Flooding claimed lives in Kansas, Colorado and the Sudan over the weekend. Is it the weather that needs to take the blame? or should there be more emphasis put on how we develop communities and infrastructure in areas where water has a potential to impact communities?

 

Where rivers have migrated and developed a new channel and now circumvent bridges (Turner Valley, Black Diamond etc...) should we be moving the rivers back under these structures and channelizing the rivers with riprap? or should we be building longer bridges? Rivers need to drop horsepower and one way they accomplish this is through the natural creation of bends. If we remove a bend to straighten a river and make it flow under a structure or through a community, where is that energy going that you have added to the river? Channelizing and riprapping the rivers just transfers the problem downstream. The river will find a way to reduce the horsepower, the bridge will be safe for now, but someone downstream will be impacted.

 

Dredging or scalping a river is an interesting option, but experts agree there is a long list of metrics that need to be collected to assess potential feasibility and these need to be evaluated. how much of that is being proposed and where will this information be available for the ongoing work in High River? If they did this "evaluation" work prior to the flood is the information even relevant anymore? Note: Councillor Tim Whitford proposed scalping the Highwood River for a while now - the recent event makes it convenient. http://www.highrivertimes.com/2013/05/09/town-could-nab-federal-funding-for-flood-project

 

I drove through Canmore this weekend and saw that they have nearly returned Cougar Creek to its pre-flood status. Now I do not know how much engineering they have done to mitigate future events, but I do know that that community is developed on an alluvial fan - these areas function to naturally absorb and dissipate energy as spring flows increase. Channelizing this system again only concentrates the energy downstream towards the highway and railway at the bottom which are restricted by culverts. I must admit I did not glace at the culverts this past weekend, but if there was ever an example of the impact of undersized culverts those previously installed would be the poster children! If the decision makers (Alberta Infrastructure and the Railway) decided to replace the culverts in this area with the same size and design of culvert, and the engineers attempted to rebuild the creek to the previous standards, I hope the residents are not surprised when the river has the same response in the next large event.

 

I personally hope that communities do not go and clean up the materials in the riparian area including garbage, log jams in the trees and other materials left over from this event. These area very good reminders of what these amazing rivers can do, and just how high waters got during this event. Everyone need to remember this and not make the same mistakes again and again.

[DonAndersen]

Folks,

 

Troutfriend's description can be understood readily by reading what an Alluvial Flood Plain is and how it operates.

Both Calgary and Highriver are located in such areas.

See Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alluvial_plain for a definition.

In each case, a quick glance @ Google Earth will show, at least in Highriver's case, the Alluvial Plain at work. Several miles above Highriver, the river becomes quite braided always seeking new channels as the river bed moves downstream. Old oxbows are readily seen.

Only white man's arrogance caused him to build here. The natives were a pile smarter. Doesn't take long to move a tent.

 

 

Regards,

 

 

Don