Editor,
A few thoughts from an old guy: Why do we have so much water around? Yes, weather has changed since the beginning of time. However there have been floods and fires before so:
Growing up in the Mission/Abbotsford area, as children we used to tramp around the mountains. The mountains/hills of Abbotsford, there was nothing but trees, bush, and blackberries. As I recall there were two gravel pits and one auto wrecking yard.
Today, driving past Abbotsford towards Chilliwack what do we see? Hundred of houses (thousands?), paved roads/driveways, cement sidewalks, paved parking lots, roofs and/or other surfaces which water drains off. Each house has one or more occupants – showers are used at least once a day; washing machines, dishwashers, power washers – washing cars, trucks, RV’s, driveways, etc. This water is brought in from somewhere else or from deep down below the surface. With rainfall added, where does this water go. Water goes to the place of least resistance. It is quite evident where it went this year, as with other areas with the same problem.
Merritt is a lovely little town, and when we visit we see the river meandering through Merritt either going to flood/flooding/or after the flood. Every year there is the same concern and this year more than others. Today, in Merritt, more housing, etc, etc, as in other areas. What can be done????
Growing up alongside the Fraser River – it has/had the same problem. As all rivers silt up. When finally they silt up higher than the land beside them they overflow their banks, and as noted, taking the path of least resistance make a channel in any lower ground. If the Fraser River was not dredged it would become unnavigable.
To solve the flooding problem, the river going through Merritt needs to be dredged. The river should be straightened as much as possible as bends in the river lead to erosion during floods. What is dredged out of the river can be put on the sides for dikes and road access. Every so many miles (kilometres) there need to be spillways and small dams; also in convenient places small lakes could be made so all this water could be controlled, and at the end of the wet season the river/lake could be full.
The farmers would love it – irrigation – more production on their farms – more revenue for Merritt; and also when fire season comes (and it always does) water could be used for fighting fires. If pumping stations were installed, it would be more efficient than a helicopter with a bucket of water. Also give sections of forest to the logging companies so fire breaks could be made and maintained, which would also make road access into these areas. This is kind of common sense which is rare these days. If fisheries and/or other important groups say you can not do this – have legal documents ready for them to sign so you can have someone to hold responsible for the next flood/fire just incase they have no common sense.
Also rather than building homeless shelters, allow the farmers to build cabins for the homeless where they can now find work (as the farms with plenty of water will be much more productive).
Water ways would also encourage/provide more recreation/tourists, in turn bringing more revenue into Merritt.
To the people of the Nicola Valley, does this make sense? Let’s hear your comments – flood the paper with your comments and common sense. When I went to school (which is awhile back) we learned that Government is by the people for the people.
Laurie Langill
Powell River, BC
Laurie Langill, you make some excellent points. However, like you say, common sense is not so common.
We really need to eliminate these flooding issues once and for all and I hope city hall gives your
article consideration
very nice feelings but try and convience Dept . of Fisheries and Oceans , they will throw u in jail just for thinking about dredging and displacing those poor little salmon. To them salmon are more important than human lives , under no circumstances will they allow dredging or any river , Fraser, Coldwater what ever. All they care about is the dam fish, then after them the Native and sports fisheries will whine and cry and get there 2cents in. No dredging of any river or water way that has dam salmon
While there are a number of reasonable sounding ideas in your letter, but actually getting them done would be something else entirely. Straightening out the river through town and deepening the channel would never get approvals on environmental grounds, and where exactly would the proposed ponds go? Not only is there nowhere to put them, but the volume of water they would hold is miniscule compared to the flows we experienced. Dams along the river would be a total non-starter from the environmental side.
I think there are 4 alternatives that could be looked at to mitigate the effects of a similar flood on the town of Merritt..
The first would be to remove all habitable buildings from the area that was flooded, expropriate the land and create a riverside park through town. This would require somewhere for new houses to be built and may mean purchasing land well above river level and have that developed.
The second would be to have a diversion structure constructed upstream from town that would allow flow to be diverted to Nicola Lake. The dam at the lake outlet may have enough freeboard to accommodate the flows we experienced in November without any modification, but this alternative would require the construction of a tunnel and canal system about 10 km long which would be pricey. It would have the added benefit of providing some protection to communities downstream of Merritt because the stored water could be released over time.
The third would be to construct a diversion tunnel from upstream of town to downstream to carry sufficient flow that flooding would be prevented in town. This tunnel or tunnel/canal would be a minimum of 3 km long. This too would be pricey but provide no protection to downstream communities.
The fourth option would be to do nothing and have the same thing happen repeatedly in the future, putting lives and city infrastructure at risk.
There are no easy alternatives.
Some very thoughtful ideas that I hope will be considered. As someone in the evacuated flood plain( although above the 200 year mark until now) we are hoping that sooner , rather than later, some firm decisions will be made regarding the long term solution to this flooding problem before we go to the considerable expense and energy of making our home on Canford Avenue habitable again. This should be priority #1 for our City Council. 266 homeowners are left in limbo until there is an action plan in place.
FLOW-THROUGH DAM
A small flow-through dam is the most cost effective and practical method to prevent the Coldwater River from causing flood damage at Merritt and along the Nicola River to Spences Bridge. This dam would be installed upstream of Merritt at a location with a catchment area to contain a significant amount of water. This dam would have a permanent opening that controls the flow of water to prevent flooding downstream without affecting the movement of fish.
For more information, Google “flow-through dam for flood control”.