Request for Feedback: Springbank Off-Stream Reservoir Benefit Cost Analysis

What are your thoughts on the Springbank Off-Stream Reservoir project Benefit/Cost study?

Please contact the Alberta WaterPortal by email, or through the comments below. Feedback is accepted until ** March 31st.** All feedback will be summarized and provided back on the WaterPortal and to the Government of Alberta.

Learn more here:  http://bit.ly/1CnY0nY

Taxpayer group questions worth of $309-million flood mitigation project

This is the area in Springbank that would be affected by a provincial government plan to build an off-stream reservoir for flood mitigation.
Colleen De Neve / Calgary Herald

Taxpayer group questions worth of $309-million flood mitigation project

by Matt McClure, Calgary Herald, Feb 27, 2015

A new study says Premier Jim Prentice’s pledge last fall to build a dry reservoir to protect Calgary against future floods from the Elbow River at a cost of $309 million makes economic sense.

But a taxpayer lobby group says the cost-benefit analysis of the Springbank Off-Stream Storage project fails to account for the amount and likely price of the land the province will need to purchase so it can construct the massive canal and dam west of the city to divert and hold excess waters during a disaster.

The study by IBI Group Inc. figures the province will have to pay $4o million to acquire around 700 hectares, but the government’s own documents show it will need over 1,400 hectares that a land valuation expert consulted by the Herald conservatively estimates would cost taxpayers at least $139 million.

Read more here: http://bit.ly/1E1gXyj

Province hosts open house for massive Springbank flood project

 

Province hosts open house for massive Springbank flood project

by Annalise Klingbeil, Calgary Herald, Jan 27, 2015

Springbank residents blasted the government on Tuesday evening at the first public consultation for a controversial reservoir proposed for Springbank that’s designed to mitigate Elbow River flooding.

The government says the proposed Springbank off-stream reservoir, located west of the city, would control flow rates of the Elbow River during a flood, protecting Calgary residents and property from future flooding.

But Springbank residents say the project will negatively impact their community and they insist there are better options available for flood mitigation.

Read more here: http://bit.ly/1ESWuKZ

Springbank Off-Stream Reservoir Project (Elbow River Basin)

Click on poster for larger image

Open House - Jan 27 (Calgary) Jan 28 (Cochrane)

Here are three links for additional information:

Alberta Gov't: http://alberta.ca/springbank-road.cfm
Don't Damn Springbank: http://www.dontdamnspringbank.org/
Calgary River Communities Action Group: http://protectcalgary.com/

Stalled talks with landowners could push Springbank reservoir opening to 2019

Stalled talks with landowners could push Springbank reservoir opening to 2019

by Trevor Howell, Calgary Herald, Jan 7, 2015

".... But four months later, discussions to grant provincial officials access to landowners’ properties to conduct required environmental impact assessments, appear to have hit an impasse.

“While discussions have occurred with the government, at this point we have no news to share, because landowners and residents haven’t received any new information on the government’s plan,” Ryan Robinson, one of roughly two dozen affected landowners and spokesman for dontdamnspringbank.com, said in an email. “We hope to get an updated version of the project plan soon.”...

Read more here: http://bit.ly/1A8uv5D

"Protecting city from future floods makes economic sense"

Photo, Courtesy Calgary Herald

Bow River Shuttles writes: "There were two items in the Calgary Herald this morning related to the proposed flood mitigation project in Springbank, on the western outskirts of the City of Calgary.

One was a couple of paragraphs in a column by Barry Cooper. The other was a full op-ed piece written by The Calgary River Communities Action Group." 


"All Prentice needs is a little common sense"

by Barry Cooper, Calgary Herald, Nov 11, 2014

... Ramping up the disaster recovery program to process flood damage applications made sense. On the other hand, the massive flood mitigation program for Springbank, does not. According to an engineering professor at the University of Western Ontario, Slobodan Simonovic, it was “unbelievable” to support such a project without thorough cost-benefit analysis. The premier said it was cost-effective, but offered no evidence.

Perhaps the announcement was made to help Education Minister Gordon Dirks’ election in Calgary-Elbow, which was badly flooded in 2013. Or perhaps we need to keep an eye on who gets the $200-million contract to build it. Either way, it looks like machine politics...

Read more here: http://bit.ly/1EDZICh

 

"Protecting city from future floods makes economic sense"

by Tony Morris and Brenda Leeds Binder, Co-Presidents of the Calgary River Communities Action Group, Calgary Herald, Nov 11, 2014

...The articles seem to attempt to pit homeowners of Elbow River communities against Springbank landowners. The Springbank Off-Stream Diversion will not only protect lives and property, but hundreds of millions of dollars of city infrastructure, private and public capital project in the downtown core and river communities and ensure continued prosperity of the economic engine of Canada...

Read more here: http://bit.ly/1xzKdsL

Flood diversion project no longer based on economic worth, documents show

Signs supporting the DontDamnSpringbank.org movement are posted on fences along Springbank Road. The area is near the proposed Springbank dam and reservoir, and residents are trying the fight the province’s plan.
Photograph by: Colleen De Neve Colleen De Neve, Calgary Herald

Flood diversion project no longer based on economic worth, documents show

Critics say reservoir must make financial sense

By Matt McClure, Calgary Herald October 30, 2014

The province no longer wants projections of economic worth included in the environmental impact assessment report for a proposed $200-million river diversion project to protect Calgary from flooding....

A document obtained by the Herald shows government bureaucrats proposed in July that the report on the Springbank offstream reservoir would need a cost-benefit ratio that would assist the province’s natural resources regulator in deciding whether to approve construction.

But now provincial officials believe the Natural Resources Conservation Board only needs an assessment that estimates the project’s cost and the damages that it would mitigate during major floods to rule on whether the reservoir is in the public interest.

Landowners west of the city, who the province now says could see up to 1,169 hectares of their land expropriated to make way for the canal and reservoir, are concerned the report to the NRCB won’t specifically examine whether the project makes financial sense.

Read more here: http://bit.ly/13ptJIJ

#abwater #abflood

Report says reservoir costs higher than future flood damage

A car drives along Springbank Road into the area that is ground zero for the Springbank dam and reservoir. Area residents are trying the fight the province’s plan.
Photograph by: Colleen De Neve , Calgary Herald

Report says reservoir costs higher than future flood damage

By Matt McClure, Calgary Herald October 18, 2014

The Alberta government says an estimated $160-million diversion canal and dry reservoir west of Calgary is a “cost-effective” solution to protecting city residents vulnerable to flooding.

But the province’s own preliminary analysis shows it would be cheaper to compensate homeowners for damages every time the Elbow River overflows its banks during the next century than pay now for the massive mitigation project.

Read article here: http://bit.ly/1y2Yahq