The Town of Battleford was meeting with a consulting firm this week about the slope instability issue ongoing at the Battleford cemetery.
How much it might cost to prevent the northwest area of the cemetery from sliding further toward the North Saskatchewan River is yet unknown, but the Town is hoping for provincial funding assistance.
Mayor Derek Mahon says, for the most part, the snow covering the cemetery site is gone and the Town has been on site to see what, if any, changes have occurred over the past year. Meridian Surveys Ltd. has been monitoring the site on an ongoing basis.
The area of concern is the northwest corner of the cemetery where some of the oldest graves are located, including those belonging to members of the Northwest Mounted Police and several early settlers' families from the late 1800s to early 1900s. Slope movement has already damaged plots and headstone in that area. It has been suggested upwards of 80 graves could eventually be affected.
Monday evening at their regular meeting, town councillors received a slope stability analysis from the geotechnical-geoenvironmental consulting firm P. Machibroda Engineering Ltd. It was the second such report received by the Town, with the addition of recommended stabilization mitigation measures.
The report proposed two options, one of flattening the slope from its crest to its toe and one of constructing a berm further down the slope. Both would involve bringing in fill and constructing groundwater drainage systems.
Monday, Mayor Mahon said a representative of Golder Associates Ltd., a civil/geotechnical and environmental consulting firm contracted by the provincial government through its disaster assistance program was to be on site Wednesday.
He also said the Town has met with MLA Herb Cox, who is well informed about the situation, and has written a letter to Minister of Public Relations Jim Reiter. He hasn't heard back yet from the minister, but Mahon said he is working with his colleagues on the issue.
"I wouldn't say it's the first time they have ever seen something like this," said Mahon.
He added a copy of the letter to Reiter went to MP Gerry Ritz, who answered saying federal funding for disaster relief is transferred to the province.
To date, said Mahon, between $35,000 and $40,000 has been spent on the studies by Machibroda and work done by Meridian Surveys.
While the two main recommendations were the slope flattening or berm construction options, the report also offered other alternatives. They were not pointed out or discussed by council at Monday's meeting, but the report does say one alternative approach would be to relocate the existing affected plots and headstones to an area of the cemetery falling outside the recommended 35-metre setback from crest of the slope. Another option would be to "do nothing" and monitor the slope for additional movement. However, the report says the current slope is unstable and additional sinkage should be expected and may worsen over time.
"There is also the risk of catastrophic failure where the collapse of the slope crest could occur," says the report.
The report also advised against irrigating the cemetery, which had been suggested since the development of the Kramer Ltd. property across the highway had meant the installation of waterline to that area. The mayor said they had considered taping into that water line at some point in the future, but the report cautions again it.
On one hand, he said, it would be nice to be able to water the grass of the cemetery, but it's also important to "keep the big picture in mind."
The first investigation was requested by council in May of 2013 at a cost of $26,400, including the drilling of test holes. The expense had not been factored into the budget, so was to come from reserves. In December, council approved another $2,000 for additional analysis with a view to determining a solution, which resulted in the report council received this week.
In the first report, it was determined the cemetery's Factor of Safety, or FS, is 1.0. The FS is defined as the ratio of the available shear strength of the soil to the minimum shear strength required to main stability. The second report says an FS of 1.3 or greater is recommended for the existing cemetery. The calculated FS for the slope stabilization measures the report recommends ranged from 1.3 to 1.7.
The report is available to the public at Town Hall, with a cost for copying it.
