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CBC News Jun 22 2005CBC NEWS–An
environmental group in Winnipeg is lobbying the province to include
some extra changes in the plans for the expansion of the Red River
Floodway.
Work is expected to begin on the $600-million floodway expansion
project this summer. In addition to increasing the capacity of
"Duff's Ditch," which diverts flood waters around Winnipeg,
crews will also make changes to bridges and other structures along
the way.
David Danyluk, spokesman for the group Save Our Seine, said at
the same time, the province should fix the way the Seine River
crosses the floodway in the southeast corner of the city.
Currently, the Seine passes into the city through a pipe that
runs under the floodway. If the pipe's capacity for water is exceeded,
any additional water spills over a weir into the floodway. Danyluk
says the system doesn't allow adequate water into the city, which
has hurt plant and animal life along the river for the past 40
years.
"The floodplains in the City of Winnipeg don't get that
saturated deposit of silt when the water flows over the bank,"
he told CBC News on Wednesday.
"We're only talking about a few inches – we're not
talking about waters of mass destruction washing away docks and
houses and flooding basements. We're talking a little bit of water,
and that's easily accommodated by the lower river. But it has
not flooded this way naturally – like it has for thousands
of years – since the floodway's been built."
Danyluk also complained that debris gets caught in the Seine
River's pipe, blocking the water's flow into the city. His group
clears it from time to time, but he says it's dangerous work.
Some changes planned
Doug McNeil, a spokesman for the Red River Floodway Expansion
Authority, said some changes will be made to the Seine River inlet,
but not as many as Save Our Seine would like.
"We're not widening [the floodway] very much at that location,
and we're not deepening. In reality, we don't have to do anything
to that structure," he said.
"But because we've been meeting regularly with Save Our
Seine and other interest groups, because there are some public
safety issues, we've looked at how we can modify the inlet to
that structure. So we're spending additional money over and above
what we would normally be required to do for this project."
McNeil said about $500,000 will be spent on a safety and trash
grate near the pipe.
McNeil said the cost to completely replace the Seine inlet structure
– he estimated about $4 million – is too high, and federal
fisheries officials have said it's not necessary.
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