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Should Edmonton upgrade its drainage system to protect against the storm it’s seen already, the storm it expects to come, or the storm that’s technically possible?

That’s the question city councillors wrestled with at council’s utility committee meeting Friday as they struggled through a flood-mitigation plan that could cost between $2.6 billion and $4.7 billion, depending on the level of protection.

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“Is that better shared with the insurance industry as a long-shot risk?” said Mayor Don Iveson, suggesting some scale of flood simply isn’t worth the infrastructure cost to protect against.

“What is the sweet spot?” said Iveson, suggesting Edmonton residents either pay through utility rates for major infrastructure projects or through their own insurance plans.

“We have to pay one way or the other, I think. But there’s a point at which it might be cheaper to do the repair afterward,” said Coun. Ben Henderson, saying he’s interested in getting to a good level of protection quickly, but not ready to commit to going all the way. “Someone needs to crunch those numbers before we make these decisions.”