Controlled High-Flow Event Will Raise Water Levels Along Calgary's Elbow River Tuesday

[SilverDoctor]

Please be very careful out there if fishing the Elbow or where it meets the Bow & downstream.

Published on: May 9, 2016, Calgary Herald

 

Calgarians might see the waters of the Elbow River rise Tuesday, but the city says don’t panic — it’s all part of the plan.

 

Frank Frigo, the city’s water services senior planning engineer, explained Monday a controlled high-flow event will take place as part of seasonal operations of the Glenmore Reservoir.

Tuesday’s activities will result in a roughly one-metre rise in water levels — maybe a little more in some spots, maybe a little less in others.

 

“This is significantly less than any actual flood event will trigger … it is not a flow that is high enough to cause any significant impacts or damage,” Frigo said.

As a result, the city advises Calgarians not to try to navigate the river and avoid getting too close.

Some pathways will be closed, Frigo said, and Calgarians are asked to obey directions of posted signs.

 

City workers are also going to take advantage of the situation, Frigo said.

“Calgarians will notice some additional staff … taking the opportunity while this activity is occurring to take measurements, which will then be used to inform and refine our emergency response plan for potential flood situations later in the season,” he said.

 

[bcubed]

well...hope there wasnt much for rainbow trout spawning activity in there this year... From 2.6 cms to 46 in less then half an hour... yikes

[jpinkster]

 

From Global. I wonder if this is just sediment being gathered from the high water or if they are releasing the sediment load from Glenmore as well. I remember hearing that when they released a sediment load from Bearspaw a few years back it caused a ton of issues downstream (sapro, etc).

[bcubed]

I'm sure it's a winter of crap built up on the banks...

[Tpetey]

I suspect their trying to flush sediment from inside the reservoir as well, easiest way to do that is to increase velocities.

Poor little fish.... They stalled out the flow at 47cms fro awhile, must have been taking some water shots for their models or something. Looks like they've held up at 77cms as well

[Dangus]

Back to normal when I drove over on the way home.