Saskatoon opens third storm pond aimed at reducing flooding

WATCH: Saskatoon has opened a new dry pond to mitigate the risk of basement flooding in one of the city's more flood-prone neighbourhoods.

The city is hoping a new dry storm pond in Weaver Park will be the latest tool to prevent flooding in one of Saskatoon’s most flood-prone neighbourhoods.

“We now know we can provide relief and improve the quality of life for the residents that have flooded several times in recent years and decades,” Russ Munro, the director of Saskatoon Water, said at an event unveiling the project Monday.

The dry pond at Weaver Park is part of a multi-year flood control strategy the city has been working on since 2018. The Government of Canada contributed $21.6 million towards the $54 million nine-project strategy. The final flood mitigation project is set to finish in 2027.

These dry storm ponds hold water from that flows into storm drains and fill like lakes during intense rainfalls. From there, the water flows toward and empties into the South Saskatchewan River.

When it rains, it no longer pours onto Dufferin Avenue and Butte Street in Avalon, one of the lowest lying areas that’s experienced plenty of floods in recent decades.

“People would canoe and kayak on the street,” Harry Jonasson, a resident on Dufferin Avenue, said. “The water’s about three or four feet deep in the middle.”

Jonasson has lived in his house for 11 years and can remember four flash floods that pushed water near his front step. The dry pond at Weaver Park was completed last fall, and Jonasson hasn’t noticed any issues since then.

“I could be wrong, but the evidence seems to indicate that it’s going to work just fine,” he said.

The city got to run an unplanned test of one of its dry ponds on June 20, 2022. Upwards of 75 millimeters of rain fell in some areas over the course of one hour.

A dry pond in W.W. Ashley Park filled and potentially avoided plenty of damage in Haultain, one of the riskiest neigbourhoods in Saskatoon for experiencing floods.

“It’s always rewarding to see the design tested and it work exactly like it’s supposed to,” Munro said.

Work begins on the city’s fifth and sixth dry ponds at Cumberland Park and on University of Saskatchewan land adjacent to 14th St East later this month. Landscape work begins at the dry pond at Brevoort Park South next month.