Restoration to Keep Street, Basements Dry
Friday, 19 August 2011
By Luke Hendry, USA
A major Belleville
traffic artery and buildings there will soon be at less risk of flooding.
Quinte Conservation is nearing completion of the $700,000 restoration of
its flood wall between the Moira River and Cannifton Road.
The work is being done above the McLeod dam just north of College Street
East. Quinte Conservation operates an electricity generating station at the
dam.
Bryon Keene, Quinte Conservation's water resources manager, said the
result will be a long-lasting solution that will keep water where it should be:
in the river.
"This is like a levee," said Keene as he stood on the
floodwall. "This will be really great flood protection."
The PVC liner installed along the dam wall in 1978 had decayed and was
damaged over the years, he said. That caused problems with a drain system in
the headpond - the area where the water gathers before passing through the dam.
Water has also been seeping through the liner.
Water made it into the basement of one Cannifton Road business in the
spring of 2008, when there was widespread flooding in the Moira watershed and
others.
Rod Bovay, Belleville's acting director of engineering and development
services, said the upgrade will put to rest the city's concerns.
"There was some concern with some groundwater seeping and getting
into the basements on the east side of Cannifton Road," Bovay said, adding
the city also wanted to ensure the busy street itself wouldn't be affected by
flooding.
The city and conservation authority have always worked well together,
Bovay said, and for about two years had been working together on the issues.
He said the changes mean Quinte Conservation and the city - and
therefore residents - will be satisfied.
"They'll be able
to keep the pond at the level they need but hopefully we won't have any impact
on the properties on the east side," said Bovay. "We're happy to see
it get done."
Keene said the new design should protect public and private property
even from high waters of a so-called "100-year flood."
Once completed it will look merely like a rocky slope, but he new system
will be a big improvement, Keene said.
"We feel it's going to give us a whole lot longer (floodwall)
life," said Keene.
A fabric lining is placed in a shallow trench, then sprayed with a
polyurea coating. Gravel and later larger stones will be layered above that.
"It's not going to harm the environment because it's 100 per cent
solids. It's not easily biodegradable," said Ron LoPresto, technical
director for manufacturer Rhino Linings Ltd.
The lining is manufactured by Rhino Linings Corp. Technical director Ron
LoPresto said the installation is similar to lining "a gigantic truck
bed" 1,030 feet in length. Jim and Shari Sauer's Trenton company -
currently nameless after a shift in focus - was applying the polyurea
Wednesday.
LoPresto said the lining should last for a few decades. "The minimum would be 20 years," said LoPresto.
Keene said the hope is for a 40-year lifespan."From here on it'll just be annual maintenance," he said.
The restoration is to conclude in the first week of September; the water
level will be raised gradually, reaching its usual level by mid-September.
Keene said energy generation will resume at about the same time.
lhendry@intelligencer.ca
|
