Province commits to dam studies, repairs

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This article was published 07/10/2020 (1841 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RIVERS — Returning to the epicentre of the Westman flood worries from earlier this year, Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler promised assessments and repairs on regional dams on Tuesday afternoon.

The dam on Lake Wahtopanah in Rivers held, despite approximately three times the amount of water it was designed to handle passing through it. A visual inspection last month revealed no major damage to the 61-year-old structure, but more in-depth inspections are scheduled for November.

To lessen the load on the dam in the meantime as well as to facilitate further inspections, the water level in Lake Wahtopanah has been drawn down. Despite that, Schuler said his department has regained confidence that the structure will hold.

“Thank God that this structure held,” Schuler said.

“Naturally, there’s a little bit of local concern about the water level in Lake Wahtopanah, but it’s understood that it has to be undertaken,” Riverdale Municipality Mayor Todd Gill said. “We’re going to do what we can to mitigate some of those concerns and maybe even take advantage and get some work done on the shorelines and beach areas and whatnot while the opportunity is available.”

Gill, who was also present at the event, praised Manitoba Infrastructure’s hard work during the flooding and expressed relief at the dam holding. Schuler, in turn, praised Gill for his leadership this summer.

In Rapid City, the dam holding back water on the municipal reservoir wasn’t so lucky, with water bursting through the earthen berm and leaving it dry. However, initial inspections have not found any major damage to the concrete control structure on the dam.

Both dams will be inspected and rehabilitated, if necessary, in partnership with local municipalities. Schuler said that the government will replace the dam at Rapid City if it is warranted, though he hoped only the berm would need to be replaced.

“We are going to be engaging an engineering company to do a complete redesign in Rapid City,” Schuler said. “We understand that there are some community pressures to get something done quickly and I would like to point out to all of you that there is a reason why it failed. We’re going to bring in professionals, engineers who are going to give us a path forward so that when we reconstruct it, we reconstruct it to today’s standard so that we don’t face another situation like that. … I don’t wish to be the bearer of bad news; the chances of us doing something quickly or in the interim is not likely.”

After stopping in Rivers, Schuler said he was going to make further stops in Rapid City and the City of Brandon on Tuesday afternoon. Earlier in the day, Schuler visited the Town of Neepawa, where the Park Lake dam failed and the Town of Minnedosa, where the local dam held.

Last month, the province announced that it would be working with the federal government to provide disaster financial assistance to municipalities and individuals affected by the floods. The 90-day application period is still open, but Schuler said that all of the affected municipalities have either submitted their requests or are in the final stages of working out their paperwork.

A final count of applicants won’t be available until the application period ends.

With the Grand Valley dike plug frustrating some residents after lingering in place months after the flooding due to continued worry over the status of Rivers dam, the Sun asked Schuler if he would be discussing a more permanent solution or improved guidelines in case the same problem happened again.

The minister said the dike plug is a municipal structure and creating a ramp up the dike plug would be extremely difficult, but the matter was on the agenda for his meeting with the city. Schuler praised Mayor Rick Chrest for his work during the flooding and for being available to talk with him at short notice during the crisis.

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