West Grey Council (Photo from West Grey Council YouTube)
West Grey is working with the Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority (SVCA) to request financial aid from the province to address the frazil ice flood risk in Durham.
Council approved working with the SVCA during its meeting on Feb. 4, to develop a long-term plan for flood mitigation and dam rehabilitation and replacement on the Saugeen River through Durham.
This comes after the SVCA issued a flood watch for Durham last month saying frazil ice could potentially lead to localized flooding along the Saugeen River between McGowen Falls and the lower Durham dam.
CAO Michele Harris says the municipality has been closely working with the SVCA to monitor the frazil ice situation.
“Since the initial flood watch at the beginning of January, and subsequent flood warnings, staff have been monitoring the river 24/7 during critical periods. The municipality has also mobilized high hoes and other construction equipment, including bulldozers, to assist in clearing out frazil ice accumulation in the river,” says Harris in a report.
To address the long-term impact of flooding in the area, the municipality and the SVCA met with an engineering firm last month to understand the issues affecting the upper Durham dam.
The engineers identified the upper dam was over 100-years-old and there is stress on the metal walkway and severe concrete damage and erosion.
In a later meeting in January, the SVCA directed its staff to work with West Grey to ask for assistance and support from the province to identify and implement long-term solutions.
“I think the only way we are going to be able to deal with this is to get the right collective of people around the table, and I don’t know what that looks like yet beyond SVCA, but do we need a task force, do we need to look at a concentrated effort to move this forward? We will have more information for you, but I think the first step is actually having conversations with SVCA and having them here so we can collectively look to the best outcomes,” says Harris.