"Certainly the ice breaker option that the Opinion250 reader has discovered, looks very interesting and officials are exploring that".

Well, finally some good news thanks to the input from a person who wouldn't just *wait for spring* - a Opinion250 reader!

Three Cheers!

The last paragraph by Pat Bell reminded me of a web site I had found before discovering the ice breaker.

http://www.gnb.ca/0009/0369/0004/0004-e.asp

"Fixed Structures"

The best medicine is prevention. I'd hate to see people out of work next Christmas knowing what we know today.

Owl what do you think about Fixed Structures?

"I think we can expect to see this kind of jam and flooding for the next 10 -15 years so we have to develop some long term solutions."

So while we're at it, why don't we look into the option of relocating the industial stuff in that area? Or is that completely off the table?

What an opportunity for all sorts of things to come together into one initiative. Flood prevention. Air quality improvement. TRUE downtown revitalization. Mind you, doing that would take considerable time, planning and vision. Oh well, I suppose we can dream.

Congratulations Heidi...well done.
So much for our emergency measures program. Why is this information not in their database?
Too much bureaucracy and too many consultants looking for the taxpayer's dollar.
Now the politicians want to grandstand!

Heidi

The site you posted is one of the many sites I had explored previously. Some I had posted.

As with you, I am hardly an ice expert.... but as many know, and now have found out once more it does not take an expert when it comes to finding possible solutions. I have always belived that being an effective problem solver takes “street smarts” which some people simply lack.

From what I can tell from my understanding of hydrology and fluid dynamics, as well as from what I have since learned on the net about what other communities do I would include the following items as some key responses to prevention, and reduction of impact should a jam occur despite the prevention measures.

Whatever is done, a failsafe system must be used = several lines of defense.

1. Dredge at the mouth of the river - dredging has been used for centuries, typically at river mouths due to the tendency to build up sediment as the river widens and the water velocity drops.

2. Build a bypass channel. – This diverts the water channel next to one or both shores and drops into the Fraser. The trick is to keep the opening into the channel free from ice while an ice jam occurs. Putting the far enough upriver will be the best principle there. Notice that right now there is open water west of Foothills Bridge.

3. Build a riverwalk dike system similar to what Richmond and many other places have. This would help in an ice jamb situation, but should be built to protect the City from high water during the spring/summer runoffs from the watershed.

4. Look critically at giving the river more room to move, all the way up the river system. In our case that would be mainly in the Cottonwood Island area where we may wish to simply reduce the amount of man-made structures we build so that we do not have to re-build them every year.

5. If the Amphibex proves to be successful, have it available as close at hand as possible in case of emergencies. The need can best be defined by BC and Albert identifying the flooding problems or potential flooding problems they have due to ice build up. Ours is not the only river with this problem.

6. Place permanent monitoring equipment in positions which can monitor the situation and warn of impending dangerous situations.

7. Keep good records of the events and summarize the information so that others can learn from them in the future.

8. Create a SMALL and EFFECTIVE emergency measures team (which may include people called in from the outside that know our situation SPECIFICALLY) that can take charge of situations that has developed.

9. Guides of how to build in a flood plain, for those who wish to live or work close to the river. Ice, of course, brings a whole new dimension to that.

I could go on, but it becomes too detailed.

Oh, I did not include fixed structures because they seem to be there primarily in samller, lower velocity rivers to keep the ice cover intact for as long as possible so it does not break up and jam downriver.

I am unsure of its effectiveness in our case. It would have to be placed somewhere upriver. It may function to protect ice from breaking up near the inlet to the channel I was writing about so that the inlet is kept clear.