HALIFAX—A community-based environmental group is applauding a recently issued tender to study the Shubenacadie Lakes floodplain.

Last week, the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) issued a request for proposals for the Shubenacadie Lakes Floodplain Study.

“With the study we’re going to be carrying out what we call a hydrologic model of the Shubenacadie River basin, which is basically an engineering flood model of the response of the river to storm events,” Peter Duncan, Halifax’s manager of infrastructure planning, explained in an interview.

“We’re going to be modelling the impact of climate change on that … It’s important because it’s the first step towards developing a climate change plan for the river basin because you have to understand the response of the river and understand what the predicted flood levels are.”

The tender document notes the study will focus on the Shubenacadie watershed extending from Lake Charles’ Lock 2 in Dartmouth and up to Fletchers Lake Lock 5 in Wellington. The study will include the creation of flood inundation maps for several scenarios that include climate change and projected land use changes. The study will include current and projected rainfall and its impacts on public infrastructure.

It will measure the water flow at several key locations in order to capture a variety of conditions and to determine what areas might be more at risk.

“The resulting information from this study ... would be used to assist in determining long term municipal planning controls,” the tender document states. “This study will provide municipal planners, engineers, and developers additional tools with which to effectively mitigate flooding risks to people, property and public infrastructure within this system.”

The Shubenacadie Watershed Environmental Protection Society (SWEPS) focuses on the headwaters of the Shubenacadie watershed and works on habitat protection, water quality and trail construction. The group’s chairperson, Tom Mills, said they’re thrilled to see the study moving ahead.

“I’m looking forward to it because in the long term, the houses are where the houses are. A lot of them go back to cottages which have been turned into houses and the septic fields are always at the lowest point in the land,” Mills explained. “So our major concern with flooding for water quality is the flooding of septic fields, but this is a necessary first step to even see how high the lines would be and what may or may not be flooded.”

Mills said as far back as the 1990s, and certainly since 2000, this kind of study was on the SWEPS wish list.

“The versatility with the final product, you can do so much with it,” Mills said. I think it’s a really vital need.”

Last October, Halifax regional council voted in favour of a recommendation to accept a Natural Disaster Mitigation Program (NDMP) Flood Risk Assessment Study, and direct staff to work with Halifax Water to come up with a funding strategy to mitigate flooding in the worst sites.

The 10 sites in the municipality deemed highest priority for a detailed flood risk assessment are, in order of priority: Sackville Rivers; Shubenacadie Lakes; Karlson’s Wharf (Upper Water St.); Inglis St. at Barrington; Highway 2 from Holland Rd. to Miller Lake Rd. in Fall River; Pleasant St. near the Dartmouth General Hospital; Cole Harbour Rd. at Perron Dr.; Shore Rd. in Eastern Passage; Hammonds Plains Rd. at Bluewater Rd.; Bedford Highway at Mount St. Vincent University.

Duncan said HRM received funding through the NDMP for the Shubenacadie floodplain study and an infrastructure study for the Sackville River. He described those as “riverine” systems, as opposed to the other sites which are considered infrastructure-based or coastal.

“Sites like Karlson’s Wharf in the downtown, Inglis St. in the downtown, on Pleasant St. in front of the Dartmouth General Hospital, those are key evacuation routes that currently experience flooding,” Duncan said. “They’re actually being looked at now during the normal course of our capital budgeting program so the results of the NDMP study is being used to inform prioritization of funds.”

The deadline to submit proposals for the Shubenacadie floodplain study project is July 30. Federal funding for the project stipulates the work must be completed by March 16, 2020.

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Walter Regan, president of the Sackville Rivers Association, said he was overjoyed to see the tender issued for the Shubenacadie floodplain study. He said this kind of “important work” on the Sackville and Shubenacadie watersheds is long overdue.

“It’s a case of starting somewhere … You don’t know if a problem is going to be $1,000 to fix or $10 million, so by doing 10 different sites they’re going to get a feel for how to fix these and start budgeting to fix these long-term problems,” Regan said.

“This is going to save the average taxpayer money because if a culvert is put in the wrong size because the mapping is wrong, the culvert has got to be dug up and replaced. This will also possibly save people’s lives. We’re going to build it for climate change going forward.”

Yvette d’Entremont is a Halifax-based reporter focusing on health. Follow her on Twitter: @ydentremont

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