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Flooding in older neighbourhoods in Saskatoon has been a problem the city is trying to remedy.
The solution is building dry storm ponds, giant holes into which storm water will drain when there is a high amount of rain.
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In theory, these ponds will remove the water that used to sit in intersections and seep into the basements of homes.
Currently there are three storm ponds in the city: At W.W Ashley Park, between Lansdowne and Albert avenues in the Haultain neighbourhood; at Churchill Park on Wilson Cres. in the Adelaide/Churchill neighborhood; and now at Weaver Park, in the Avalon neighbourhood.
Russ Munro, director of Saskatoon Water at the City of Saskatoon, said it’s good to know that they are helping people.
“I know there’s more work to do, but this provides some sense of relief,” Munro said.
“We know we’re making some progress on this, we know from the unplanned test … that these projects work.”
The W.W Ashley Park storm pond was the subject of that unplanned test in June 2022, and it passed with flying colours.
“It’s always rewarding to see the design tested and it working exactly how it’s supposed to,” said Munro.
The Weaver Park dry storm pond will help flooding on Dufferin Avenue between Ruth and Bute streets.
“When we were seeing rain events that were up in that one in 10 years, we’re getting flooding in intersections,” said Munro.
“The storm pond is designed to capture that water that would’ve otherwise gone into intersections or basements.”
Rain events are when the city sees more rainfall in a short period of time that exceeds what the city normally sees in multiple years.
How a dry storm pond works. (Will Mandzuk/650CKOM)
For Avalon residents, the pond provides some relief.
Cheryl Cole lives in the area and said having something like the storm pond to prevent flooding can allow residents to not panic after a heavy rainfall.
“It’s so traumatic to have to go through a flood,” said Cole. “I’ve lived through that years ago and it’s just terrible.”
One of the things that excited Saskatoon Mayor Cynthia Block was the ability to still be able to host youth soccer games within the storm pond when no water is in there and Cole agreed.
“It actually adds to the green space here,” Block said.
Gayvin Franson also lives in the area and is glad to see the park space has not been negatively impacted.
“There’s a soccer league (for) young kids here, and now it’s even better than before,” he said.
“Down there (in the storm pond) it’s not windy and the ball is not getting kicked out into the street.”
Franson has also dealt with flooding in the past.
“In 2019 I went over to Africa … and came back here and found my basement flooded,” he said.
The $54 million project will eventually help relieve flooding stress and issues in 10 Saskatoon neighbourhoods.
The federal government has provided $21.6 million, while the remaining funds will come from the city.
Construction is set to begin this spring on a dry storm pond in Cumberland Park and on the University of Saskatchewan grounds, near Griffiths Stadium. Brevoort Park will also see landscape work for a dry storm pond.
— with files by CKOM News
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