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‘A bigger look’

The city took its first steps Wednesday toward the completion of a 20-year storm-water master plan, hosting an open house where members of the public were encouraged to provide feedback as the municipality looks to the future.
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Residents were encouraged on Wednesday night to stop by the Italian Cultural Centre for presentations on the city’s in-progress storm-water management plan. (Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com)

The city took its first steps Wednesday toward the completion of a 20-year storm-water master plan, hosting an open house where members of the public were encouraged to provide feedback as the municipality looks to the future.

Emmons on Olivier Resources’ Cecilio Olivier said the public was not only being asked about flooding concerns, but water quality and use of the water resources of the city.

It’s an important first step, he said, calling it a planning tool all communities should have.

“We need to take a bigger look at the resources in the city that we need to protect. We need to protect people from flooding, but at the same time allow them to be able to enjoy those resources. It is a 20-year plan that goes in the direction of defining the goals and policies the city is going to be applying for the next 20 years.”

Areas they’ll be looking at are potential retrofits to the storm-water system. Some of the infrastructure is already in place, while some may need to be constructed.

“It also defines what are the specific requirements that future development is going to have to follow and it goes in the direction of coming up with a capital improvement program that would allow the city to put money behind the plan to be able to accomplish everything the plan calls for.”

While the master plan arose from the aftermath of the devastating flood that struck the city on May 28, 2012, leaving many residents to deal with basements filled with raw sewage, Olivier was quick to stress had the proposed plan been in place, the result may still have been the same and just as disastrous.

That doesn’t mean those problems are being ignored.

“My understanding is there are other consultants working on plans for specific neighbourhoods that experienced flooding,” Olivier said.

“Our plan is going to be more comprehensive and looking at an area that is not necessarily specifically related to the flooding areas, but more watershed-wide.”

Still, the plan will look at setting standards and ways of improving current practices.

“Basically protecting the citizens of the city in the future,” he said.

Kerri Marshall, the city’s environment division director, called Wednesday’s session a public education forum, outlining the process over the next 18 months while the plan is developed.

Marshall said the first step is to characterize the existing watershed.

“From that the next step will be to evaluate the effectiveness of the existing infrastructure to manage storm water today and into the future. We’ll also be looking at the implications of climate change on storm-water management in the city.”

The policies and plans that will formulate the master plan will evolve from those studies, she said, calling it a holistic strategy that looks at flooding, water quality and erosion.

The public is being asked to fill out a survey, rating the city’s storm-water management performance, evaluating its level of service response and asking about issues, including drainage, pollution and water quality.

The survey can be found at www.thunderbay.ca/stormwaterplan.


 



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
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