The cost of the flooding from July 1, 2010 continues to mount for the City of Yorkton.
That was the bad news Yorkton Council heard at its regular meeting Monday.
Trent Mandzuk, Director of Public Works with the City, told Council the aftermath of the flooding is exposing previously unknown weak spots in the storm drainage system.
"Damages to the City's storm system continue to appear as a result of last year's flood. Peak storm water flows have stressed weak points in the system. Underground washouts have formed where storm pipes are fractured and where poor pipe joints allow storm water to penetrate and disturb surrounding earth. Unfortunately, these types of failures only present themselves when voids around storm pipes collapse, making them visible on the street surface. The bulk of failures are at catch-basin points. Older basins with poor footings are extremely prone to frost movement in the spring, which almost results in leaking pipe joints around the basin," detailed a report circulated to Council Monday.
"At present, it is difficult to accurately measure the magnitude of the problem, as many failures have yet to surface. The Department estimates that over 10 per cent of the City's 1000 catch basins suffer from some form of structural deterioration. This problem will become progressively worse in years ahead. Public Works crews continue to repair storm system failures on a weekly basis. As a result, the City's drainage account is approaching 200 per cent (-$180,000). Unless the Department makes cut-backs to other areas of the operating budget, this over-run will be evident in the Department's overall budget at year end."
Mandzuk added, "At the end of the year this over run will be evident."
Mandzuk said there were several options to address the extra costs.
Possible sources of funding could be contracted services under streets and sidewalks. It's possible to freeze $100,000 from roadways and another $25,000 from sidewalks to help offset drainage expenditures at year end. The remaining $55,000 would have to come from other services performed directly by City crews (ex. snow removal and ice control), said Mandzuk.
Mandzuk said there are issues with taking money from other projects.
The obvious shortcoming to this approach is these areas of infrastructure will receive less attention for 2011. To help put this into perspective, $100,000 of asphalt would resurface approximately one km of residential streets. $25,000 would renew about half a City block of sidewalls. In regards to possible savings through cutting back snow removal operations, $55,000 is equivalent to two rounds of snow removal, detailed the report.
Councillor Chris Wyatt was quick to agree taking money from other services was not the answer.
"I'm opposed to stepping back on roads and sidewalks," he said. "To go backwards goes against what we've done the last five years."
Coun. Richard Okrainec also had concerns.
"I'm not in favour of taking money from the snow budget. You can't predict snow," he said.
Mandzuk said another option being explored was provincial dollars.
A claim has been submitted to PDAP for $200,000 regarding the July 1, 2010 flood and provided it is approved, the funds could be applied to the drainage overexpenditure, he said.
Mandzuk said that moving forward, water drainage will grow as an issue.
"It should be noted that relative to water and wastewater systems, the City's drainage system is young in age. However, it is becoming increasingly evident that issues with the system exist. Recent engineering studies have identified capacity issues that need to be addressed. Similarly, additional funding needs to be secured for the purpose of video inspection of storm pipes. This will allow administration to accurately determine the overall condition of the system and to develop future rehabilitation programs," detailed the report.
Coun. Ross Fisher said ultimately it's "work we're going to have to deal with regardless of when we do it."
In the end, Council unanimously supported the additional expenditures of $200,000 related to the City's drainage system in 2011, to be offset by proceeds expected from the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program and/or unanticipated revenues from growth in the tax base.
