CALGARY – Delegates from around the world were given a uniquely Calgary experience Wednesday, as they floated down the Bow River during a trip for the Livable Cities Forum. Topics included how to recover and protect residents from future flooding.
“It’s a beautiful day, for sure,” said Montreal climate change specialist Isabelle Charron. “It makes the experience fantastic.”
The group floated along at a flow rate of 80 cubic metres per second, a calm ride compared to 2013, when the river was still reeling from the Alberta floods.
“In 2013, the peak flow that we recorded at station was 1,750 cubic metres per second, so about two-and-a-half metres deeper than we are seeing now,” said City River Engineer Group’s Jonathan Slaney.
Critical and high-priority areas were secured with riprap two years ago, but that came at a cost to the environment. Riprap is a foundation of stones, concrete chunks or similar material on an embankment slope to prevent erosion.
“The flood didn’t actually damage any fish habitat, in fact it creates fish habitat. It’s what we did afterwards to protect our infrastructure and we had to do that.”
The city has a responsibility to compensate with new fish habitat, and is currently studying how best to do so.
“We measure it through a model we just developed, where we look at different species and the different life stages in the river, and determine what habitat is best for each species,” said City River Engineer Group’s Deighen Blakeley.
Blakeley said bioengineering technicians will be consulted on how to make the habitat more natural like the river bank was before the floods.
Charron approves of the work done so far.
“I see that they have done a lot of repair, both using hard measures and soft measures, so it’s great to see that they are thinking short-term and long-term,” she said.
Blakeley said the group has identified more than 60 erosion sites, which will take a number of years to repair.
The repair of the river banks and river pathways has cost the city about $40 million so far.
With files from Global’s Erika Tucker
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