By Madeline Baker, Times Chronicle
The Town of Osoyoos has applied to the Community Emergency Preparedness Fund under their Disaster Risk Reduction through climate adaptation funding stream in hopes of moving forward with plans to develop a staged flood response plan, new floodplain land use regulation, and protections for the community’s water wells.
The Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) developed the fund to support First Nations and local governments as they work to reduce risks from future natural and climate related disasters. Communities can request a maximum of $2.3 million across three categories: foundational activities, non-structural activities, and small-scale structural activities.
After receiving funding to perform risk assessments in 2021, the town now hopes for more grant support to implement their resulting flood mitigation project, which they have developed in a three-pronged system to match the categories of the climate adaptation funding stream and which should be finalized and presented to council in the coming months.
Step one, which has an estimated cost of $150,000, will be the development of a staged flood response plan that will dictate the activities and measures that should be taken at each level of flooding “to prevent any loss of life, minimize injury and trauma, and minimize damage to or loss of property.”
This plan’s early stages will involve tracking water levels at higher elevations to anticipate potential flood risk, while later stages will dictate when emergency services volunteers should be mobilized and actions such as sandbagging, closing boat launches, or evacuation should begin.
Next, the town will review and update regulations related to land use within the new 200-year floodplain. At an estimated cost of $22,000, this step will see changes made to the Official Community Plan (OCP) and any bylaws relating to development on the floodplain.
Director of Operational Services Jared Brounstein described this second step as a “reset” of flood construction levels by approximately a meter, which will require new bylaws to ensure that no development can be approved in areas that have either been deemed hazardous or set aside for ecosystem protection.
Finally, the third but highest priority step will focus on protecting potable water wells from the risk of erosion and contamination in the event of a flood. This step naturally comes with the highest price tag, approximately $1.5 million, as it will involve design, construction, and installation of various upgrades to the wells and the areas around them.
Special priority will be given to wells 3, 4, and 5 as they are located in the 100- and 200-year floodplains, said Brounstein, which makes them especially susceptible to flood damage. The control structure for well 8 will also be relocated entirely out of the flood plain.
At the September 27 town council meeting, Mayor Sue McKortoff spoke on behalf of the Okanagan Basin Water Board as well as herself when she gave full support to the project plans and funding application. The rest of council concurred with a unanimously favourable vote.
Should the application be approved, the Town of Osoyoos hopes to have this project completed by the end of 2024 with no cost to the community. If it is denied, their plans will have to be delayed until a new budget is put forward in either 2023 or 2028.
