Yorkton Council was given an over view at their regular meeting Monday of what is recommended for flood mitigation moving forward.
At the August 22, 2016 regular council meeting, approval was granted to begin a study to identify possible solutions along with preliminary cost estimates to address localized flooding in 11 areas identified by our Public Works Department, explained Rene Richard, director of engineering and asset management, with the City.
Monday representatives of Integrated Engineering, the firm contracted to do the work, reviewed the initial report with Council at the Committee of the Whole meeting.
The report included 12 projects recommended to relieve flooding in the 11 identified problem areas.
“The options were conceived by using sophisticated modeling software in conjunction with the LiDAR survey performed in 2016,” explained Richard in introducing the presentation.
The software allowed the consultants to try different scenarios and see where the problem is and the effects the potential solution will have.
The projects if undertaken, will not come cheaply.
The total estimated cost to complete the projects is approximately $40 million (depending on the options ultimately selected). In some options land acquisitions may be necessary. It should be noted for the most part that land acquisition costs are not included in the preliminary cost estimates, offered Richard.
Since 2010, the City of Yorkton has spent more than $9.5 on overland drainage. This includes mostly the Brodie Pond and the channel and ponds on Dracup Avenue. Also, piping was upgraded along Dracup Avenue at a cost $6.4 million.
The City is also in the design phase for ditch work and the replacement of the culverts under Hwy 9 just north of York Road at an estimated cost of $4.8 million. These culverts handle all the storm water from the Dracup and Victoria ditches which accounts for approximately 90 per cent of the city’s total storm water.
Chris Hallam with Integrated Engineering said the projects are part of an integrated approach to flood issues across the city. As a result, “the implementation order of some of these projects is critical.”
In some cases projects will only work as designed if other projects are already completed as part of a larger integrated approach.
Jeremie Bourgeois, also with Integrated Engineering, explained the first step was “identifying six major catchment areas” in the city where “water draws to or out of,” particular parts of the city.
The southwest area of the city is generally the biggest problem, said Bourgeois.
“Five of the 11 problem areas fall in this area,” he said.
The water from the area flows north to the barrier of two railway tracks, resulting in a virtual dam to the natural flow.
“It’s not pretty,” said Bourgeois.
With the southwest is a problem, the project that is likely to kick-off work, at least in terms of the linked projects within those outlined, will start in the opposite corner of the city.
The north channel revitalization will see the channel starting at York Road and heading north to Grain Miller Road widened and deepened “so it can handle maximum water,” said Bourgeois.
Next would be the same sort of work on the North Central Channel from York Road to Victoria Avenue, a project estimated at a cost of just shy of $4 million.
That project would lay the foundation to proceed to the Victoria Channel work, at a cost of $4,320,000.
At that point work could start within the southwest catchment area, where Bourgeois said “there is a massive amount of water to deal with.”
The work within the area would be carried out over five smaller projects designed “to divide and conquer the water.”
The projects range from diversions, to establishing new ponds, the latter suggested for just south of the hospital, and along Laurier Ave where property in recommended to be acquired to be allow for a new pond creation.
The Laurier Ave Detention Pond and Maple Ave Diversion project is the most expensive of those recommended at an estimated cost of $6,140,000.
Detention ponds in the Henderson Street area and new piping will have a price tag of $5,910,000.
There are three projects which are independent of the linked system; a Circlebrook Drive pond in Knights of Columbus Park and along Queen Street at a cost of $3,110,000, and work in the Whitesand Drive and Aspen Place areas at just more than $2 million combined.
The report was accepted by Council, with the projects contained therein, referred to the City’s 2017 budget deliberations.
