Storm water management group seeks solutions

Sharon McLeay
Times Contributor

 

Storm water issues have long plagued land owners, municipalities, environmental and industry groups.
Alberta WaterSmart has identified that insufficient water is a significant limiting factor in economic and population growth patterns. Climate change will also be a factor in future trends in storm water retention patterns.
The WaterSmart website, albertawatersmart.com, states that through recognizing a shared ownership of the system’s current challenges, surrounding communities and the Western Irrigation District (WID) have come together as partners and formed the Co-operative Stormwater Management Initiative (CSMI).
“The Co-operative Stormwater Management Initiative is a great example of diverse interests working together to achieve a common goal of good water management,” said Dr. P Kim Sturgess, spokesperson for the CSMI.
CSMI partners include the City of Chestermere, the City of Calgary, Rocky View County (RVC), the Town of Strathmore, Wheatland County and the WID. Resource facilitators and consultants included MPE engineering, Ducks Unlimited, Bow River Basin Council, Calgary Regional Partnership (CRP), and Alberta Environment and Parks participates as an observer.
Urban development is placing pressure on surrounding water supply systems and WID irrigation works. Currently, communities rely on the WID to take the burden of storm water overflow areas and this causes challenges for WID maintenance programs. Water quality concerns include phosphorus, saline, coliform bacteria counts and total suspended solids. Weed growth is another concern as it impedes flow and plugs intake mechanisms. Current overflow management measures are limited. Members want to manage input-output flow and water quality to and from the Bow River, and consider solutions in long-term planning.
Challenges will be utilizing cross border boundary solutions, developing good regional communication, establishing equal representation of each member’s needs and ideas, and compliance with all provincial and federal guidelines and regulations. WaterSmart identified that government policy creates barriers to improving some of the identified opportunities.
They outline some of the barriers as: “the right to use” all types of water mentality; understanding how water reuse may affect meeting river requirements, including impacts on downstream users, agreements and aquatic health objectives; such as, water conservation objectives, instream flow needs and the lack of a formal process to evaluate and approve different types of water reuse projects.
The partnership is looking at long-term sustainability solutions for these issues.
Preliminary studies were done starting in 2012, with the help of the WaterSmart program, where assessment of necessary infrastructure and developing issues were pinpointed. In 2013, MPE Engineering was retained to outline possible options for storm water management issues. In the next two years, MPE completed a water balance and volume control levels, and stream erosion analysis that will help the group in future decision making actions. Wetland analysis regarding water patterns is also considered.
There will be factors to consider as the collaboration develops. Climate change planning is being done by many groups and contributing data from things like the Old Man River and South Saskatchewan River basins will also factor into the group’s consideration.
CSMI is considering a 25-year plan in its initiatives. Some things identified through examining climate data and urban rural runoff patterns include the need for Langdon wastewater treatment upgrades in 25 years; upgrades needed to control water volume entering Serviceberry Creek and Eagle Lake; a prediction that return flows to the WID will vary and decrease due to climate change; and, conservation and better use of water will be part of storm water management for both urban and rural users, and municipal partners will be looking at ways to better manage that in their regions.
Area industry also needs to be figured into the equation of storm water management, water use and reuse. As an example, in 2013, the oil sands drew approximately 200 million cubic metres of non-saline water from the Athabasca River system. Oil industry leaders for all oil exploration and mining ventures are currently trying to recycle at least 80 per cent of the water they use, and targets have been set to reduce water use by 30 to 50 per cent by 2022.
CSMI has established a working memorandum with all partners and is currently in an implementation stage of its planning, and is moving towards securing funding for a five phase construction plan. In 2017, the group will nail down governance parameters, finalize legal agreements, apply for federal and provincial funding, and finalize hydrology concepts and design, with final designs for stage one completion target for November.
It is anticipated that a meeting of minds in the collaboration will generate new and inventive ways to secure funding and manage water issues in areas surrounding Calgary for years to come.