Weekly newsletter: March 14, 2023
If you ignore today’s snow and the snow in the forecast, you’ll find it easier to believe spring is just six days away! Spring officially begins March 20th at 5:24 pm.
As warmer weather approaches, city staff and crews are preparing flood mitigation along the Ottawa and Rideau Rivers.
The term “freshet” is used to describe a large increase of water discharged in a river in the spring due to snow melt and sometimes heavy rainfalls, potentially leading to seasonal flooding in low-lying areas along rivers.
Every year since 2017, the City has convened a taskforce to manage the spring freshet to prepare for, monitor, and respond to the needs of residents across the city. The task force was a lesson learned from the major flooding in 2017.
Most of their efforts are focused on communities and municipal assets known to be impacted by seasonal flooding, like the Britannia Water Purification Plant.
Presently, there is no river flooding in the forecast along the Jock or Rideau Rivers, but this could change as the freshet approaches.
To mitigate issues for communities along the Jock and Rideau Rivers, including parts of Barrhaven East, flood control operations on the Rideau River near the Rideau Falls continue.
This includes the (apparently also-famous-outside-Ottawa) controlled ice blasting in the area of Rideau River known to have ice jams, near Sussex Drive, to promote water flow along the rest of the river.
A key function of the spring freshet taskforce is communicating updates to residents, including through the spring flooding webpage and on the city’s social media channels, including the Facebook group created specifically for spring flooding.
Although most of the ward is not generally affected by spring flooding, I hope this will be helpful information that can be shared with family and friends elsewhere in the city who are.
Spring also means construction season is approaching! Last week, I shared three stretches of roadway in the ward that will be repaved this construction season:
Greenbank between Foxfield and just north of Fallowfield (deferred from 2022)
Stoneway between Windhurst west and Astoria (deferred from 2022)
Lodge between Prince of Wales and Rocky Hill
I’m happy to share the following has also been added:
Woodroffe between Fallowfield and Longfields
The first 60 metres of Earl Mulligan west of Woodroffe
Prince of Wales between Willow Creek and the Jock River (continues down to Longfields in Barrhaven West ward)
Please also note the traffic signals at Longfields/Highbury Park are now active. Most early feedback from residents, the regular crossing guard, and the high school have been related to adding a few seconds to the east-west pedestrian signal phase around the bell times. I will be working with staff this week to get that implemented, hopefully by next week.
Anyway, enjoy the week, and we’ll chat again in the spring.
-Wilson