The Millbourne Flood Mitigation Task Force
The Millbourne Flood Mitigation Task Force, a dedicated group of local residents, has spent more than a decade helping the City and EPCOR protect and advocate for communities in the Mill Woods area. The Task force was specifically created after heavy rainfall caused significant flood damage to residences and businesses in the Millbourne Park neighbourhood back in 2012. Since then the City of Edmonton has made it a priority to improve flood mitigation in the area, working together with the Millbourne Flood Mitigation Task Force.
The task force, which spanned over a decade of work, had a mandate to provide input, advice and counsel to the City concerning safe and effective flood prevention and damage relief measures. As residents of the North Millbourne, Lee Ridge and Richfield neighbourhoods, task force members volunteered their time, shared unique perspectives and brought their lived experience to the conversation.
With input from the task force and other partners, the City upgraded and replaced the stormwater and sanitary sewer systems while installing other natural flood prevention systems in the area. In June 2023, Edmonton had an intense rainfall event similar to the rainfall experienced in 2012 with a recorded average precipitation of 89.9 mm over the 4 1/2 day period. During this rainfall event, upgrades to the drainage system performed as expected, demonstrating that the project has been successful in reducing flood risk.
A few highlights of the project include:
The Dry Pond Expansion Projects
Dry pond expansion projects were completed to change the flow of stormwater to safer locations. These projects replaced the existing underground stormwater infrastructure, as well as expanded existing dry ponds and built new ones to absorb stormwater. A dry pond is a place where water is temporarily stored to prevent stormwater infrastructure from becoming overwhelmed during heavy rainfall.
The Tweddle Place Dry Pond Expansion project replaced the existing earth berm with a new living wall. This living wall is a visual and sound barrier that uses plant material to form a hedge-like, more natural alternative to traditional barriers.
The Tweddle Park Living Wall
The Tweddle Park Living Wall is a structure made of a wooden frame, with earth and willow shrubs growing on it. The wall provides a natural sound barrier and visual screen for the residences that back onto 91 Street. It’s also graffiti resistant, low maintenance and sustainable.
Starting at the end of 2023, the Living Wall joined the City of Edmonton’s infrastructure inventory. In the most recent 2023 Fall Budget Adjustment, funding was approved to support the ongoing maintenance of the Living Wall so that it can protect the community for years to come.
Image from Cutting Edge Landscaping Ltd.
Lessons learned from the Flood Mitigation Task Force
Thank you to members of the task force for their tireless contributions over the last many years to help make this community safer and more resilient. The task force provided the City and its partners with valuable insight into the challenges faced by the community after major flooding incidents - this was vital to the creation of effective solutions.
In November 2023, members of the task force gathered with our office, and representatives from the City of Edmonton to reflect and share their lessons learned. Some of the key takeaways shared were:
Relationships matter and need to be maintained to ensure success.
Regularly communicate expectations to ensure everyone is on the same page and accountability is maintained.
A third-party facilitator is helpful to keeping meetings on track and record discussion points and decisions made.
The task force demonstrates how residents’ experiences and feedback help to shape the planning and design of our city. Through active involvement in public engagement opportunities, its members created positive change which will benefit their community for many years to come.
The City has shared the lessons learned from the task force with other City departments to highlight how community advisory groups can help future projects. Resident feedback and lived experiences, integrated alongside City policies, programs and technical requirements is invaluable to decision making. This is the direction that I hope to continue to see as Edmonton continues to grow - your engagement and voice matters, and can make an impact.
If you have questions or concerns about any of the maintenance of the dry ponds, living wall, or roadways, curbs and sidewalks, please call 311.
