Pumping of flooded Cochrane Lake into the Bow River has resulted in a drastic increase in the amount of water that has been getting removed from the lake since the last week of August — from around one-inch per week to an inch a day.
Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (AESRD) has contracted Canadian Dewatering to install and monitor a 10-inch pipeline to pump into the Bow in an effort to try and get the water table back down to 1,281 meters.
Canadian Dewatering was the company responsible for the majority of water removal resulting from the June 2013 flooding of High River, the Saddledome and the Calgary Stampede grounds.
“We’ve installed a 10-inch line running roughly 8km from Cochrane Lake down to the Bow River, which is pumping around 3,000 gallons per minute out of the lake,” explained Shaun Fielding, vice president of the Pacific Region for Canadian Dewatering, who is hopeful they will be able to bring the water table down before freeze-up.
Fielding explained that extra precaution was taken where the pipe runs along the paved pathways through the Heartland community — to ensure that the pipe is tamper-resistant.
“From the railway line to the river, the pipe was adapted to HDPE (high-density polyethylene),” said Fielding, adding that a Mineflex ReelEasy hose was installed through the rural area leading up to the railway; he said that the system is good for more than 200 PSI — twice the pressure that is actually being run through the system.
Fielding explained that Canadian Dewatering is responsible for the install and maintenance of the pipeline and are on call 24 hours a day; two members from province-contracted Drift Production Services are on site full time to ensure everything is running smoothly.
While pumping continues into both Horse Creek and Big Hill Creek for now, AESRD spokesperson Jamie Hanlon said there is a possibility the need to pump into these two watersheds may discontinue.
“We are monitoring levels in the lake and if the levels drop faster than anticipated (before freeze-up), discharging into the creeks would be discontinued as appropriate,” said Hanlon, adding that periodic sampling both upstream and downstream of discharge points in all three receiving water bodies are being conducted.
Despite concerns expressed by environmental advocates, including Guy Woods from Bow Valley Habitat Development, AESRD said no long-term ecological impacts are predicted to arise from the temporary pumping.
A long-term solution for removal of water from Cochrane Lake is a decision that Rocky View County council is to make in the coming weeks.
“Grant funding ($2.3M) has been approved and the grant agreement is with the Department of Finance for review,” said Hanlon. “The decision on a long-term solution rests solely on the county — we will continue to work with them as there are regulatory processes that they now must pursue in order to affect the long-term plan.”
County Div. 2 councillor Jerry Arshinoff said it looks like Horse Creek would be the most likely permanent solution due to logistics and costs but that ‘nothing is set in stone’.
