By Dominic Abassi

City delays work on middle Colliery Dam after new data reveals less risk

Jan 16, 2018 | 5:06 PM

NANAIMO — After spending more than $7 million fixing the lower dam, the City is hitting the pause button on any work related to the middle Colliery Dam.

A statement issued by the City on Tuesday said work on the middle dam is postponed until at least 2023 to allow more time to collect and study data.

Senior manager of engineering Poul Rosen told NanaimoNewsNOW early warning sensors installed on the dams in late 2013 revealed water levels, especially during storm events, were lower than originally thought.

In an email to NanaimoNewsNOW, the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations confirmed a 2015 order calling for a remediation plan was rescinded and a new order issued “To ensure the City continues to make progress toward addressing the dam’s deficiencies according to its new plan.”

“We’ve only got a few years worth of data, so we’re going to need a lot more years to really have enough to have the confidence in the results that we need to make a long term decision about the middle dam,” Rosen said.

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In late 2012, Council made an in-camera decision to remove both dams, citing an order from the province and staff information that the century-old dams could fail during a significant earthquake or extreme rainfall.

That decision touched off a saga which captivated many in the city for several years.

Council meetings were inundated with engineering studies, passionate delegations and heated debate. Many believed the information being presented by staff and the province was incorrect and safety concerns over-hyped. There was civil disobedience in Colliery Park in protest of the work, which even saw a Nanaimo councillor earn a violation ticket for his involvement.

In the end, Council backed off on the removal plan and chose an auxiliary spillway option to mitigate safety concerns with the lower dam. A City staff report in 2016 said total costs related to the dams since 2012 were a little more than $7 million.

Rosen was asked why the City didn’t take the same wait-and-see approach currently being used on the middle dam.

“The information has only become available as a result of the sensors that were installed in 2013 and 2014. So we’ve been collecting data since then, but certainly that data didn’t exist before,” he said, noting the lower dam had a higher hazard rating, larger watershed and a higher probability of flooding.

The Ministry has yet to provide answers to the same question.

Jeff Solomon, a member of the Colliery Dams Technical Committee and Colliery Dam Preservation Society, said Tuesday’s news is positive, noting the current mindset at the City is to ensure no more work than is necessary is done.

“Make sure you have the correct information and to acquire that information you take the correct steps. I believe somewhere along the line, they missed that part. That’s very unfortunate. We can’t go back in that regard but I believe it can impact decisions as we go forward. Not just for the middle dam, but other decisions the City makes.”

Solomon said the dams were made out to be “an incredible emergency,” which led to rushed decisions.

“Whether it be the province or the City, it doesn’t matter where (pressure) came from. They were rushed decisions and sometimes that can lead things astray at an incredible cost to the City and create incredible angst for the community as well.”

Rosen said while he can’t speak to the probability, it’s certainly a possibility the middle dam won’t require any remediation work at all. He said there is no cost estimate for potential work on the middle dam.

dom@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @domabassi