A Wallaceburg Councillor is hoping for a “fulsome” review of the W. Darcy McKeough Floodway operations.
Counc. Jeff Wesley is bringing forward a notice of motion at tonight’s (August 13) council meeting, with the hope of gathering support for a review of the floodway, which is the largest flood diversion project in Ontario.
Wesley told the Sydenham Current that taking a look at the project is long overdue.
“While the current operation of the dam has saved property damage and flooding in Wallaceburg there still remains certain properties in Wallaceburg that continue to flood under the current operating criteria,” Wesley said in his notice of motion.
Wesley said the expropriation certificate, written in 1984, for the floodway says that the dam can be operated and lands flooded “for the purpose of alleviating flooding at the Town of Wallaceburg but not for any other purpose whatsoever.”
“The current operating procedure for the dam states that ‘due to the unpredictable nature of flooding circumstances, the elevations and data in this manual can be used only as a basic guide for the operation of the gates. The final decision may be a judgment call based on all data available and the circumstances at the time of the flood threat which may not have been foreseeable at the time this manual was printed’,” Wesley said.
Wesley said the current dam operations manual was developed in 1987 and updated in 1992 and after analyzing all of the documents, there is nothing prohibiting a review or revision of the operating criteria.
In his motion, Wesley is asking that the Municipality of Chatham-Kent “provide assistance, cooperation and support” in asking the St. Clair Region Conservation Authority to undertake a fulsome review of the operating criteria.
“The purpose will be to update the operating criteria in the hope that flooding that is still occurring in the former Town of Wallaceburg can be eliminated,” Wesley said.
St. Clair Region Conservation Authority (SCRCA) officials say the floodway was completed in 1984 to reduce the threat of flooding in the Town of Wallaceburg.
The floodway is situated approximately twelve kilometres north of Wallaceburg in Sombra Township.
It consists of an earth fill dam embankment and concrete control structure housing two vertical sluice gates.
The grass lined diversion channel stretches seven kilometres west to the St. Clair River.
Near the channel outlet, a concrete drop structure reduces the energy of the diverted flood waters before entering the St. Clair River.
The drop structure also separates the St. Clair River from the normally dry channel.
“The control gates remain open under normal flow conditions, but when Wallaceburg is threatened by flooding, they are closed and divert the flow down the diversion channel,” SCRCA officials say.
“The McKeough Floodway is capable of controlling all flood water upstream of the dam by diversion and temporary storage. The floodway is located such that it controls approximately 37% of the East and North Sydenham River drainage basins upstream of Wallaceburg.”
The meeting at the Civic Centre in Chatham starts at 6 p.m. this evening.
