Flood Mitigation $44 million... Why?

By Ben Meisner

Several things stand out in the flood mitigation report that went to City Council this week.

The experts on hand acknowledged that Alcan Rio Tinto was only 1/3 responsible for the amount of water that was flowing in the Nechako at the time of the ice jam.

The normal flow into the river at that time of year (December ) is 34.9 cubic meters.  In December of 2007 Alcan had been putting 200 cubic meters into the river then cut it back to 89 cubic meters, just under three times the normal flow.

What made matters worse is that the additional water that came down the river early in December set off a sequence of events. It lifted the ice and that ice began to move to the confluence of the Nechako and Fraser.

While the amount of water being released dropped to just under three times the normal release, all that was required was a nice push of that ice that had already been lifted. So what happened? Well we had an ice jam and a flood. Strange isn’t it, that every time we have had a flood on the Nechako in recent memory, it has come following a major release into the Skins Lake spillway by Alcan?

So while the people at the public meetings called for Alcan to contribute to the flood damage, the report said (were you surprised) that the Alcan flows were minimal during the 2007 freeze up. That statement is wrong, but it definitely did not get addressed in the report, even though the report itself alludes to the flows Alcan was making.

So what do we need to do? Well for starters we have to get government to ensure that Alcan Rio Tinto does not release these kinds of flows during winter freeze up. If they must keep the dam at maximum level, and bearing in mind that 1 inch of water, is worth a million bucks, then dump the excess before winter hits instead of hoping to ring out the last drop from the winter flows.

That will save the city a ton of money but then, if you look at the suggestions for mitigation, you won’t see common sense appearing anywhere.

This week as I read the report I came upon a comment written by a reader. It is worth repeating because it sums it up in a few sentences.

"Out to lunch as usual. If the drain for your bathtub is partially blocked, so that the water does not flow out quickly (like the confluence of the Nechako & Fraser ) and your taps are leaking say 10% more water in than is flowing out ( such as we would see when the confluence begins to freeze and water starts to back up ) What would you do? How about calling in a troop of consultants and engineers who, for a fee, decide the best mitigation for the situation is to raise the height of the top of your bath tub. Then you have your relatives ( no consultants or engineers or politicians, just plain folk who somehow manage to go through life without much advice from experts ) They say "hey, stupid, why don't you fix the drainage problem"? and if you don't understand, they show you, let the water flow out faster than it is running in and you won't have a flooding problem, bozo!"

While you can’t suggest they had anything but the best interests at heart in dealing with the study, two of the engineers have worked for Alcan in the past, one of them back in 1982 when Alcan was saying it would build a smelter in Vanderhoof, they have a history.

I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.

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