Andrew J C Tait - Buried Watercourses

I've written in previous columns about the folly of burying natural watercourses, and how communities in Canada and Europe are uncovering (daylighting) long-buried rivers, creeks and brooks to right the environmental wrongs of previous centuries.  Above ground streams support drainage for major rainfall events, wildlife habitat, and community aesthetics.

 

Recently, Edmonton Council began discussing the daylighting of the last mile of Mill Creek, which is presently storm-drained into the North Saskatchewan during it's final tumble.  Many of us have hiked the trails along Mill Creek and enjoyed the waterway, but as it approaches Connors Road, becomes occluded.  The mouth of the creek was buried in the 1970's, to clear a path for a freeway that was never built.  Like many communities, Edmonton is now contemplating ways to re-establish it's historical waterways and wetlands, long lost to urban development before environmental issues were given serious consideration.

 

Leduc now faces some serious challenges as it grows and the City must decide whether to bury it's grass waterways and natural waterways.  Will we learn from the mistakes of others, or blindly follow old paradigms that others have cast aside?  Time will tell.

 

All the best, 

Andrew J C Tait