By Steve Hubrecht
Local officials are applying for another grant to help pay for upgrades to the Toby Creek dike.
The upgrades have been in the works for several years and stem from a flood risk assessment, completed in 2022, which recommended raising the dike at four specific spots, using rip rap, to a new climate-adjusted 200-year water surface elevation mark, plus an additional 60 centimetres (two feet) of freeboard.
The District of Invermere acted quickly after the risk assessment was finished, applying for an Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program – Adaptation, Resilience and Disaster Mitigation grant in late 2022. The grant was eventually successful, but it took a good deal more than a year to process, with the district finally receiving $1.98 million in early 2024.
The big problem is that $1.98 million is no longer enough to pay for the work.
“Construction has seen a lot of inflation,” said Invermere director of public works and operations Angela MacLean, adding that in some cases that has been as much as 15 to 18 per cent. That “eats away at the money available to do the work,” she noted.
So much so that a second grant is necessary.
Cost estimates to raise the Toby Creek dike now total $2.8 million.
The second grant application is for $810,000 through the provincial Community Emergency Preparedness — Disaster Risk Reduction — Climate Adaptation program.
MacLean outlined to Invermere councillors that it is a stackable grant meant for projects that help build infrastructure and resources, and which are “shovel-ready” in the short term.
Invermere council gave MacLean the green light to apply for the grant and committed the district to pay any cost overruns for the project from the general operating fund surplus or from other grants.
Invermere councillors have consistently been unanimous that dike upgrades need to be done as soon as possible. They were spurred on by the assessment, but also have frequently mentioned an incident about eight years ago, when an ice jam caused the swirling torrent of Toby Creek to breach the dike, flooding nearby low-lying land. The alarming event prompted an all-hands-on-deck emergency response from district staff who worked furiously to make repairs to the dike.
The four specific spots the assessment recommends raising the Toby Creek dike are: the north end where the dike meets Panorama Drive; two small areas in the middle of the dike; and the southernmost (furthest upstream) part of the dike.
The flood risk assessment report put the possible cost of damages stemming from another ice jam scenario at nearly $3 million, and at more than $14 million for a complete dike failure.