Saskatchewan’s Water Security Agency (WSA) has announced new long-terms plans to protect communities from flood damage.
Starting this month, the provinces existing Emergency Flood Reduction Program will transition away from its emergency focus, giving more attention to long-term projects.
“Shifting away from an emergency flood mitigation program to a permanent program allows communities to undertake long-term flood mitigation, reducing the risk of flooding in future years,” Dustin Duncan, minister responsible for the WSA, said.
The new Flood Damage Reduction Program (FDRP) will take a proactive and preventative approach to helping communities address concerns of flood before the issues arises. The new approach differs from the existing plan of repeatedly implementing short-term measures in response to an emergency.
The program will accept proposals from Saskatchewan communities in four categories:
Structural projects
Mitigation planning
Flood plain mapping projects
Hydrologic and/or hydraulic investigations to develop risk assessments
The FDRP will provide an extra $1.5 million to the province for long-term flood mitigation.
Cost of the eligible prevention projects will be split between the WSA and the community.
