The City of Lloydminster will be getting over $1.6 million dollars to protect from flooding in the community.

The money comes from the Alberta Government’s Technology, Innovation and Emissions Reduction fund, or TIER. As part of this, the city will be receiving the funding towards the Northwest Drainage Flood Mitigation Project. The proposal would see one of the City’s major drainage outlets, which runs Northeast from 75th Avenue to Saskatchewan’s Neale Lake get upgrades to the channel and culvert crossings, allowing it to hold and transport more water.

Mayor Gerald Aalbers says there are several weather factors that place a demand on water facilities in the area, and without work, flooding could happen due to this demand.

“Snow, rain, any precipitation that we receive in our community, as well as from the outside of our community in the case of the west side of our city, we receive water from the county of Vermilion River, drainage water that comes off some land and ends up flowing through the [Neale Edmunds complex] and on to the North Saskatchewan River after it makes its way through.”

This funding will go towards existing jobs this year, projects in 2021, and work in the future. Some of these projects, Aalbers explains, could be upsizing water capacity 33 per cent by changing piping from round to rectangular with the same diameter. Other upgrades could include better channelization, making them flow better and keeping channels clean and free of debris, sometimes in wet or deep areas, depending on where work is being done.

Aalbers adds that City Administration will likely be bringing forward the bulk of the engineering work for the Council to vote on before the new year,  and this grant money will work to take some of the cost off the city and taxpayers.

“We’re working with nickels and dimes [of] tax dollars rather than full dollars of taxpayer money to pay for this, because it’s our responsibility as a community. So it’ll help with that, and you’ll see the dust, as they say, fly in 2021.”

The Alberta Government funds the TIER program with industry partners and says it is the core of Alberta’s approach to reduce emissions, improve climate and weather resilience while supporting economic recovery.