Ministry aims
to cut flooding

BEAUTIFUL BRITISH Columbia. Endless forest.
Majestic mountains. Yet, all of that beauty does

pose its problems.

One of the most serious oc-
curs when water and human
setdement meet and floods
cause damage [to property
and buildings.

But with so much forest
and so many mountains,
there is often little alternative
to building on the floodplain
of some river

However, a small section
of the provincial govern-
ment’'s Ministry of Environ-
ment — the Floodplain Plan-
ning and Survey Section — 18
working to find alternatives
and to minimize the chances
of damage it there is no
choice but to build) where
floods might occur

Sandra Smith, planning of-
ficer with the section, says if
was the Oak Hills disaster in
Kamloops in 1972, when
floodwaters wiped out a
mobile home park, that gave
impetus to establishment of
the section about 10 years
ago.

Prior to that, there was lit-
tle formal floodplain plann-
ing and, as a result, many
developments took place on
land that was vulnerable.

Ministry engineers
surveyors are involved in
mapping fiver courses and
determining flood frequen-
cies They survey cross-
sectrons of rivers and flood-
plains and, based on this in-
formation, produce flood.

and

plain maps for communities
across the provinee.

When mugicipalities or
regional districts formulate
bylaws that affect develop-
ment on those floodplains,
the ministry provides advice
on whether development
should take place or what
precautions should be taken
to flood-proof a building on
a floodplain.

The main message of the

section, says Smith, is that
there are better uses tor
floodplain) land than tor

residential of
development.

Floodplains can be better
used tor parks, open-space
recreation or agriculture, she
says, where the capital invest.
ment in improvements 1s
much lower.

That's why community
plans and settlement plans
from across the province are
reviewed by the = section.
Smith says the planning
authorities are advised to try
to keep floodplain land for

commercial

purposes other than
development
However, if this is) not

possible, the community
plans should show the level
of hazard for the land and
should require that buildings
be floodproofed in the area

For example, says Smith,
the town of Elkford in
eastern B.C. wanted to build
anew commercial centre To
be viable, um had to be on
floodplain land near the Elk
River

RA SErwyw

To reduce the risk of flood
damage, however, the section
recommended the centre be
built on a base of fill to raise
the buildings and that it be
set back from the river

Often, raising a structure a
matter of a metre or two 1s
enough to protect it from the
hazard of a 100-year or
200- year flood, says Smith.

A building can be also con-
structed on posts or piers, or
built with a crawl space
underneath, to pive it the
needed height, or placed on
till protected from erosion.

The section has also
developed standards of satety
for areas where floodplain
mapping has not been carried
out. Generally, buildings
should be set 30 metres back
from a medium to large water
way and they should be built
three metres above the
natural boundary of the
river; that 1s, the visible high
watermark.

Some of the section’s work
is On an advisory basis, says
Smith, but there is also
legislative muscle which 1s
used

A secuion of the Land Title
Act stipulates that any sub-
division of land in a flood-
plain area must have the con-
sent of the deputy minister of
environment. If development
is’ taking place that 1s,
without question, hazardous,
the ministry could block it

Much of the ministry's ef-
tort as directed at reducing
development in areas suscep-
tible to flooding

eco Farisssctxrrice«cs 2

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