By Angela Brown

North Battleford looks to stop river bank erosion to protect its well field

Mar 22, 2021 | 9:44 AM

NORTH BATTLEFORD, SASK. – The City of North Battleford is looking at ways to address a problem with the erosion of the North Saskatchewan River’s shoreline bank.

The city’s planning committee is concerned about the ongoing erosion along the left bank of the North Saskatchewan River, in the vicinity of its groundwater well field. That is used by its Water Treatment Plant Number One, which is located on land, about 500 metres upstream of the westbound bridge on Highway 16.

“As a precautionary item, we brought in SG1 Water Consulting Ltd., out of Edmonton, to take a look at the river and come up with some solutions on how to stop the erosion,” city director of operations Stewart Schafer said. “Our concern is that the erosion is going to start [blurring] into the well fields, and in particular our wells on the west end of the well field that we are using.”

Many years ago, Schafer indicated the city installed riprap, a type of clean concrete to create a barrier. However, the river is still digging into the bank.

SG1 Water Consulting Ltd. proposed four possible solutions to help remedy the situation.

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Option one involves installing extensive riprap bank protection, for a total estimate of $1,640,000, to fortify the entire bank line area. This would require placing well-graded rock riprap on the bank slope over a length of about 655 metres.

Option two entails installing a series of river-training spur dikes – rock riprap that extends to the top of the existing bank and projects into the river channel. That would aim to calm the river flow and protect the river bank, for a total estimate of $564,000.

Option three involves using setback trench and localized riprap bank protection, for a total estimate of $788,000. This proposal requires placing rock riprap in a roughly 200-metre-long trench set back from the existing bank.

And option four is called a “do nothing” approach. It involves surveying and monitoring the rate of bank erosion at the project site over the expected service life of the groundwater well facility.

City administration is still evaluating the details of the report before making any recommendations.

Mayor David Gillan said the city should consider some type of bank erosion mitigation effort before 2030.

He is particularly concerned about nine active wells in direct risk of this erosion.

“[We’re] not talking details today but I think it’s something we need to start putting in a five-year plan…,” Gillan said. “It’s been delayed for a decade or more. I think the time has come to start dealing with it.”

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW