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Gainsborough receives government funding

Gainsborough is one of 20 communities from across the province to receive funding from the provincial and federal governments for flood mapping.

Gainsborough is one of 20 communities from across the province to receive funding from the provincial and federal governments for flood mapping.

Ralph Goodale, the federal minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and Dustin Duncan, the minister responsible for the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency, announced $1 million in funding for the mapping project earlier this month.

The Water Security Agency (WSA) will proceed with flood mapping for 20 high-risk communities through the National Disaster Mitigation Program on a 50-50 cost share basis between the provincial and federal governments. There is no cost to the communities who have been identified as high risk.

Chad Glascock with the Water Security Agency said a lot of work needs to be done in each community, and the focus is on the mapping.

“What we use is Lidar (light detection and ranging) technology, which collects the data from all of these communities, and allows us to define or delineate precisely the areas that are subject to flooding,” said Glascock. “This is more modern, aerial-based technology which helps improve the accuracy of the mapping, which changes from previous mapping that was completed in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s.

Technology has improved immensely over time.

“From there, we’re hiring a civil engineering firm to use the data to create the maps and the models,” he said.

Gainsborough was identified as high-risk due to its flooding history, specifically from 2013-2015. The community was evacuated for several days due to a flood caused by torrential rains in 2014.

“They received funding as part of the Emergency Flood Damage Provincial and the Provincial Disaster Assistance Programs,” said Glascock.

Most of the products are expected to be developed by March 31, 2020.

Glascock noted that during the past decade, there has been an “immense” amount of flooding in Saskatchewan, and much of that, they believe, is due to climate change.

“Of course, with climate change, you’re seeing an increase in the amount of rain, of flooding and of spring runoff … so it’s important to identify those regions that really need the supports,” said Glascock.

This mapping will support community planning as well, so that cities, towns and villages can identify the areas where they need to do specific work, such as rezoning.

“If they’re building a new neighbourhood, do they reassess if they’re allowed to build homes in that region? It just gives the communities an opportunity to understand what and where they do some of that work.”

The average cost for each community in the project is approximately $44,000, which pays for the consulting work and the technology.

Flood mapping identifies areas that are at-risk for flooding from nearby rivers, lakes and streams, including those impacted by anticipated developments or changes in climate, making it the first step to increasing community resilience relative to flooding.

It is one of the 25 measures of resilience in the Government of Saskatchewan’s Climate Resilience Measurement Framework.