A grassroots movement to halt government plans for a massive reservoir in Springbank is picking up speed. Don’t Damn Springbank consists of a group of Springbank landowners and supporters who were unpleasantly surprised to learn in April the Alberta Government intends to flood 1400 acres of land in a flood prevention reservoir.

“The first time that anybody heard about the plans was through the media. It was quite a surprise for everyone. We were just sitting there going ‘well wait a minute that seems like it’s awfully close to home’” says group spokesperson Ryan Robinson of the 100-year-old Val Vista Ranch in Springbank. He says up to 20 landowners would be directly affected by the reservoir. They also object to the damage it would wreak on the land and the reservoir’s inability to protect nearby Redwood Meadows and Bragg Creek from another major flood since both communities are upstream of the disputed project.

Robinson says that since contacting the government with their concerns Environment and Sustainable Resource Development representatives met with them to explain the project which he says turned out to involve flooding a valley 2.5 metres deeper than originally stated on the government website.

The project was first presented at the provincial government’s April 29 flood symposium. It would a involve flooding a 57-million cubic metre “multi-use” reservoir in Springbank by building a dam and cutting an approximately six-kilometre diversion channel from the Elbow River to the reservoir.

Don’t Damn Springbank argues the $200-million project would unnecessarily destroy the area while a similar project in the McLean Creek area (which is already scheduled to be the site for a large dry dam) would protect Calgary and the upstream communities from floods and only directly affect Crown land. The government says the Springbank reservoir project is still in the evaluation stage and is not guaranteed to go forward.

Tags: