From the February 12, 2008 Community Information Forum
- Concerning spring flooding. What is the process if a new flood in the spring incurs new damage?
Answer: Should there be another flood, that is separate from the ice jam flood, it will be dealt with as a different process. Snow surveys are undertaken regularly and advance warning, if there is a flood potential, will be given should it be necessary. Snow survey updates will be given through the media.
- Concerning the construction of the Cold Water Release Facility. Will Alcan and the City Council communicate their desire to have cold water release facility constructed as quickly as possible and within the province’s timeline?
Answer: Alcan is committed. As soon as the government puts their funds forward, Alcan will match them.
The City has been lobbying the Provincial government in support of this subject. City Council has not discussed funding support for the project at this point.
- Concerning outflows into the river and Alcan’s generators that were down. Is there an alternative way to dump excess water at Kemano?
Answer: One of the generators lost power capacity which meant that the generator ran a reduced discharge. Repairs took time. It came back online on January 8. In terms of the spillway at Kemano, it wasn’t designed for that purpose.
- Can the leads on the remaining ice close up? Is there any data that suggests that this particular ice jam is consistent with previous jams?
Answer: Conditions with this jam are consistent with previous jams. Ice experts advise that there is a very small chance that all 26 kms of the ice will melt and release down the river at the same time. Should there be unexpected ice movement, the City is well positioned with appropriate flood protection measures.
- Can the Community Information Forum be extended for another week so that the DFO can speak on dredging issues?
Answer:This is the final public consultation session presenting flood updates in this format. There will be other meetings once it is time to discuss potential solutions as part of the long term study. Dredging options may be discussed at that time.
If there is a need for other sessions around specific issues, they will be planned.
The Mayor has discussed the issue of dredging with the Fraser Basin Council and will continue to meet with Fraser Basin Council reps to discuss the issue further.
- Concerning the reservoir management. Alcan was asked to explain the system’s limitations, lower limits, what is done with excess water, and where historical data comes from and how it has changed over the last 50 years and how often their surveys are done and what their analysis reveals.
Answer: The reservoir’s operating range of 2800 is its normal operating level. The minimum is 2787 so the reservoir can act very quickly to increased precipitation levels. In terms of reservoir safety, Alcan has to make conservative decisions early on when to discharge water without being able to positively predict weather conditions. In terms of decision making, it’s a state of the art computer model. Alcan uses data from the past 55 years on snow pack, inflow, etc to determine how safely they can route water past communities. The data has not changed dramatically within the last 50 years. There have been wet periods and periods of drought. Data has been fairly consistent.
- Resident asked to continue to be informed of flood updates and the solutions study and to be permitted to be involved in the study.
- Can a new turbine be installed to redirect water to control flood events?
Answer: The Kemano Completion Project was not completed and there are no plans to change that decision. Alcan is focusing on modernization of its Kitimat Works facility.
Public input will sought through the study from residents and industry.
- Re DFA, do affected residents have to sign covenants to qualify for DFA?
Answer: Covenants do not have to be signed to get financial assistance.
- The river ice was melting before the City installed the warm water solution.
Answer: The warm water solution seems to be working well with positive results with respect to melting river ice. Data is being collected from this project and may become part of a permanent solution.
- Disappointed that the DFO rep is not in attendance to answer dredging questions. Can Council write a letter to the Province asking to expedite funding for the cold water release project to improve the river flow?
Answer: TThe City has been in support of the project since 1987 when it was first suggested. The cold water release project is not a flood mitigation measure but rather a habitat measure.
Mr. Klassen provided further details on the cold water release project.
- Will dredging occur this summer to prevent spring / fall flooding?
Answer: Dredging will not occur until a thorough review is conducted on its feasibility and as part of the long term solutions study.
- Pertaining to long term study on flood control solutions. Given the magnitude of the watershed and boundaries, what will be the involvement of the Provincial Government? Will they take a lead role in this project? And if so, when? If not, why not?
Answer: The City will take the lead and manage the work and have an engineering consultant hired to conduct the study. Emergency Management BC will also be involved to assist with facilitation of the study. The province and the City will contribute data collected from this year’s event and any other river data pertaining to the Nechako River.
- Regarding water release at this time of year. Why can’t the data for the last 50 years concerning rainfall, snow pack, etc be part of a program analysis to forecast water levels?
Answer: Alcan can’t predict the weather and relies on short term weather data to make discharge decisions. Due to changing weather conditions, it is difficult to forecast weather in advance. Alcan does use the historical data set to calculate potential flow scenarios.
- Will the cold water release facility prevent more floods?
Answer: The cold water release facility will have no impact on high or low water flow. No one can predict if there will be another flood next year due to precipitation and snow pack.
- Is the City open to hearing these explosive engineer possible options?
Answer: Any and all options to prevent or mitigate future flood events will be considered. Conditions causing natural ice melt are favorable for the ice jam to resolve itself within the next few weeks. However, for future episodes considering explosives as an option may be a consideration pending further research.
- Why does it take so long to get approvals and work through the regulations required prior to approving dredging work? Can’t exceptions be made for when flood events of this magnitude occur?
Answer: Dredging is not ruled out but it won’t happen this summer. The agencies are looking at dredging if it is a viable solution. River survey cross sections and appropriate modeling must be undertaken to help determine dredging as an option. Glen Thompson further outlined gravel extraction process in the Mission / Hope region.
- Question re process to evaluate property damaged by the flood.
Answer: The process will start within the next couple of days. There will be three provincial evaluators in Prince George until all properties have been evaluated.
- Once the evaluations are complete, how long does the recovery part take?
Answer: The process involves an evaluator assessing property, writing a report to Victoria, with proposed compensation amounts to repair properties.
- Regarding River Road. Will the City continue to maintain the road and off ramp? The distance of the edge markers do not give enough room.
Answer: The edge markers were installed in less than ideal conditions. Once the snow is gone the markers will be repositioned.