Work by Lafarge to re-establish a berm damaged in June’s flood along Exshaw Creek has caused concern for residents in the hamlet and has been halted as a result of a request from Alberta Environment.
Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development spokesperson Nikki Booth said the work requires proper permits to be in place, as it is a waterway.
“We asked them to stop until the proper authorizations required under the Lands Act and Water Act are in place,” Booth said. “Anytime you do anything in a waterway you have to get permits for it.”
Reeve Dene Cooper said work on flood protection infrastructure along Exshaw Creek should only proceed once there is a full understanding of what is needed to protect the community and downstream interests. He said the work Lafarge has undertaken so far is difficult for the community because it is not necessarily contributing to the protection of the hamlet.
“The creek doesn’t look like it used to,” said Cooper, adding determining where the creek’s course is after the flood is key to determining what kind of berms are to be placed on its west and east banks. “The real problem is where is the creek and how do we provide a flooding berm? Once we have that primary issue resolved, then everything else falls into place.
“My bottom line is nothing should be done upstream that would complicate flooding events downstream – at the very least it has to be neutral and what you are aiming for is to get improvements along the whole water course.”
Lafarge spokesperson Michelle Gurney said once the company became aware there were concerns on July 22, work stopped.
“As soon as (AESRD) said stop working on it, we stopped working on it,” Gurney said. “There was no official order or stop work order issued – from what I understand it was a friendly conversation.”
She said when work was halted, it was at the first stage and more work is needed to shore up what has been put in place and armour the berm. However, she said Lafarge will work with the province and MD of Bighorn on determining the work needed on the creek overall before it continues.
“We are really committed to a plan that considers those mutual interests,” she said.
Lafarge met last week with MD of Bighorn administration and provincial disaster recovery officials.
Dale P. Mather, director of recovery for the MD, said it was a first step towards establishing relationships to work together.
“The purpose of the meeting was for the MD to meet with representatives of various industries in the region and just make sure we are working on the same page and working together to make the recovery as good as we can make it,” Mather said. “I was very appreciative of being able to attend the meeting because I do feel it is a good part in the communication process for all the parties to meet and so we know everybody’s concerns.”
Cooper also spoke about installation of a water line Lafarge is undertaking. He said the MD has no concern with the line being re-established after it was damaged in the flood, but that whatever materials are used to bury it in the ground should not contribute to future flooding events.
“We are just concerned with the soils that would be used to cover that pipe; that they wouldn’t ever contribute to rock going downstream in another flood event,” he said.
