Province completes tests on Rivers dam
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/07/2020 (2019 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Manitoba Infrastructure crews finished their work on Rivers dam within a couple hours Saturday morning, with a full analysis of the structure’s integrity set to be released sometime this week.
Riverdale Municipality Mayor Todd Gill told the Sun that the testing process went smoothly, where government workers spent a couple hours examining each side of the dam with a probing tool.
While Gill hasn’t seen the full results of these tests as of Sunday afternoon, he did get a good feeling about the dam’s condition after talking with some government representatives afterward.
“They were pleased with the amount of scouring, there didn’t seem to be a lot of concern with that,” he said. “There’s been some technical issues with some water pressure in the monitoring wells that they’ll continue to review.”
The province originally spearheaded these tests to determine how well the structure has held up under unprecedented stress, with southwestern Manitoba being battered with record rainfall earlier this month.
While the Rivers dam never burst, government officials said the 60-year-old structure had to endure its highest-ever water levels because of the rain.
Thankfully, Gill said all the bodies of water surrounding the dam have been steadily receding since then, with Lake Wahtopanah dropping to just 3.8 feet above the structure’s spillway as of Saturday morning. This represents a 2.2 foot drop in water levels from July 4.
Meanwhile, the Little Saskatchewan River has also been stabilizing as of late, with the water level falling 0.6 feet last weekend alone.
Because of the improving situation, Gill said Riverdale allowed most of the community’s 53 original flood evacuees back into their homes last week.
“We presently have seven residences that are still out on the evacuation order,” he said. “The rest are back into their homes and on ‘bag-ready’ notice.”
Even though the region’s weather remains unpredictable, Gill is still optimistic about his community’s capacity to fix their infrastructure now that they have been given a little breathing room.
“The water’s receding and we’re fixing infrastructure on a day-to-day basis, getting roads opened up and bridges repaired,” he said. “So we’re moving forward.”
» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @KyleDarbyson