For the last three months, heavy equipment operators have been installing an armored flood mitigation channel for Williams Lake First Nation.
Chief Administrative Officer Aaron Manella said back in 2020 WLFN was hit by devasting flooding and freshet.
He says they identified 13 projects in which they needed to provide a mitigative response and this represents one of the last projects relating to the 2020 flooding.
“The project was to create a Flood Mitigation Channel that starts at the old Cariboo Wagon Road which is kind of a dirt patch that’s just adjacent to Highway 97 in the South corridor and the purpose of this channel is to link culverts that go under the Highway and link to the high water mark down at Williams Lake.”
Mannella noted that Williams Lake First Nation Chief and Council and Administration are relieved as they head into another Spring and that they feel protected in a greater way than they did a couple of years ago.
“In terms of actually planning for the project there’s a great deal of design and contemplation, and working with our partners at the Federal Government, Provincial Government to enable this type of project.” Mannella said, “We went over an active archeological site so that required great sensitivity. We also required licensing and authorization through Water Stewardship as we did have an active creek in place.”
Manella added this project was a collaboration between the Ministry of Transportation, Indigenous Services Canada, Williams Lake First Nation, Emergency Management BC, DWB Consulting Services, and Lake Excavating.
The armored flood mitigation channel is valued at over 4-hundred thousand dollars.