by Wilma Mol and Chris Daponte
MAPLETON TWP. – Mayor John Green was not convinced by a recent GRCA presentation and continues to stress that dredging the Conestogo River through Drayton would help address flooding in the village.
“To bring up studies – old studies and make new ones – and do nothing is not acceptable in my opinion,” Green told a delegation from the Grand River Conservation Authority last week.
And the mayor refused to buy the GRCA’s explanation that any dredging would have a negligible and short-lived effect on flooding because an eroding CN Railway abutment upstream would just fill in the excavated channel.
“It took … 22 years to fill up,” Green said. “If people felt safer for 22 years, I’d be quite happy with that.”
Councillor Bruce Whale asked the GRCA delegation what would be the best approach to protect locals from flooding.
Senior water resources engineer Dwight Boyd said the township can dredge out the material, but it would require an environmental assessment and the approval of Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Transport Canada’s Navigable Waters Protection Program (NWPP) – all the while not guaranteeing any results.
Instead, both Boyd and the GRCA’s Gus Rungus suggested a redesigned channel.
“[Dredging] won’t stop flooding in Drayton,” Rungus said.
The redesigned channel would also require an environmental assessment and approval of various agencies, but the GRCA says it would create more capacity in the river and outlast dredging.
But Green was not convinced, noting just a few weeks ago there was a substantial amount of rain in the township and the river began to rise.
“I’m not an engineer, I’m not a mathematician, but I can tell you, if there’s three feet or five feet of build up on half of that river the water can’t get through,” Green said.
Linda Dickson, the county’s community emergency management coordinator, suggested the township consider extending already existing dikes – another option proposed by the GRCA – because it “may help alleviate the smaller floods.”
But in 1986, extended dike work was estimated at $251,000 not including land acquisition costs – and there is no provincial funding available for such a project.
And, Dickson cautioned, like dredging, the dikes are likely not going to alleviate larger floods.
Councillor Jim Curry asked if CN Rail is willing to do anything to fix its eroding abutment – cost estimates range from $109,000 to $503,000 depending on the option chosen – to address the “liability issue.” He also wondered if the GRCA was stepping away from pursuing CN for funding.
Boyd said the GRCA will present an information package to CN Rail and see if the company is willing to help.
Whale then asked about the role of the GRCA in the environmental assessment process. Boyd replied the municipality or the GRCA can take the lead on the assessment. He noted there is funding available for the assessment – and likely any dredging or channel design work – through the Water and Erosion Control Infrastructure (WECI) Program.
Yet Pat Salter, Mapleton’s representative on the GRCA board, said the township shouldn’t expect financial help from the GRCA. She explained that, like municipalities, the authority is struggling with funding, but it could provide expertise as a way of assisting.
Whale said the township “should explore the funding options” to address the matter by spring and, if needed, set aside funds in its 2010 budget.
Public works director Larry Lynch said Paris Geomorphic could have a channel design done by the end of the year, which could tie in with a WECI funding application if the township decides to proceed.
“Any way you move forward, you have to have a [channel] design,” Lynch said, noting the township does have some funds available for the work as well. He suggested the township get some design costs and then proceed with the environmental assessment process.
“The nuisance flooding is what we get every year … and this clean out would alleviate some of that headache and that’s really what we’re trying to achieve in the short term,” said Lynch. Green asked Lynch to return to council with a report on the available options.
See next week’s Community News for more on the GRCA’s local flood warning system.
