NEWS FILE PHOTO
Hatters look out from Scholten Hill as water floods an area of the River Flats and across Industrial Ave S.E. in June 2013. There is no money for Medicine Hat in this year's provincial flood protection grants, announced Tuesday.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com @CollinGallant
There will be no money specifically for the City of Medicine Hat in this year’s outlay of provincial flood protection grants, which were announced on Tuesday.
Each year since the 2013 floods in Medicine Hat and southern Alberta, city officials have applied to the Alberta Community Resiliency Program as the major funding source to recover money spent on a seven-kilometre local berm system.
The city is currently completing Phase 1 of the Industrial Avenue berm, which continues south from Strathcona Island Park, while Phase 2 is currently out for tender.
At a press conference in Calgary with Environment Minister Shannon Phillips and Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi, Phillips said 2018 projects will make communities better prepared for flooding.
The province will also “move forcefully” over this year to increase water storage capacity upstream from Calgary
In Tuesday’s $23.3 million announcement, the City of Calgary received $13.5 million to help build a portion of a downtown berm, raise a bridge, and rework a storm sewer system in a low-laying community.
In the Oldman River basins, the Town of Taber will receive $3.23 million to help develop water holding wetlands near the town’s industrial area. In spring 2016 local officials stated that the total cost of the city’s flood mitigation infrastructure program since the 2013 flood has been about $33 million.
That has been paid for with about $6 million in city reserve money, $25 million in provincial grants and another $1.5 million from Ottawa.
Other grant winners were announced on Tuesday.
A separate watershed grant will see Ducks Unlimited restore 165 hectares of previous wetlands on the Bow, Oldman, South Saskatchewan and Milk River Basins with $3.3 million in provincial funding.
A separate $10 million will be spent to replace flood supplies, like sand bags, in the provincial stockpile.
Last year Medicine Hat received about $775,000 to improve the intake system at the Medicine Hat water treatment plant as part of the annual program, while Cypress County received $923,000 to upgrade the Veinerville potable water system.
