Potential effects that the yet-to-be built Glenbow Dam could have on the communities and public parks in the Rocky View County (RVC) area were presented by the Save the Bow River Parks group at the RVC Public Presentation Committee on Oct. 18.
Jan Erisman, a longtime Springbank resident, presented the committee with concerns about the location of the Dam along the Bow River.
She showed maps and drawings that indicated that if the Dam were to be built along the shores of Bearspaw Legacy Park and Haskayne Park, it would be devastating for the residents who live along those parkways.
“The Glenbow has no flat land left,” said Erisman to the committee, which means the new dam would flood the valley and deprive the Glenbow of its flat land.
As a resident of the area, Erisman was provided with maps of the proposed Dam location during the initial open-house phase that the developer, Sunalta, had with county residents.
The map of the area structure plan shows that the land along the Haskayne and Bearspaw Parks would be “decimated”, according to Erisman, and “most of the time and during drought, this massive valley will be mud,” she said.
The Alberta government conducted a 2017 report that looked for opportunities to reduce future flood damage, improve the reliability of water availability, and to protect the long term health of the water basin, according to the government’s Bow River Water Management Project.
In the Spring of 2021, the government entered into phase two of the Reservoir Options Initiative, which includes three options for reservoir construction along the Bow River; between Seebe and Morley on the Stoney Nakoda lands, a relocation of Ghost Dam, and the aforementioned Glenbow Dam, located between Cochrane and the Bearspaw Dam.
The government's feasibility study has a planned conclusion for 2024, with the engineering and regulatory approval process beginning soon after that.
Any government decision on the location of the new Dam wouldn’t come until 2030, with the construction not starting until 2034, according to the proposed timeline offered by the provincial government.
Erisman believes that if the Glenbow is chosen as the reservoir's location, efforts should be made to mitigate destruction to the current residential environment.
“If we have the opportunity to build flood mitigation, let's make it beautiful and something to be proud of,” she said.
County administration assured Eisman that the government’s timeline for dam construction is still years away and that the process is still very early.
“We’re waiting for the results of the phase two study for recommendations on a location [still],” said Byron Riemann, Executive Director of Operations for RVC.
The Committee voted to accept the information presented to them by Erisman.
The process to build a dam along the Bow River in RVC is still in its infancy, but residents like Erisman believe that, even though it’s early, they haven’t been provided with sufficient information to keep them from worrying about their homes.
“We feel like we’re not getting any information from the county,” she said.
Riemann assured her that any information the county does get from the government regarding the project, is linked on the county website for people to see.
