Flood Mitigation Methods
Infrastructure and policy have interrelated to provide the province with measures to respond to and rebuild from flooding events. The June 2013 flooding in southern Alberta, however, set a new precedent in our province and initiated discussions of new mitigation methods capable of responding to intensified flooding and weather events.
In the aftermath of the spring 2013 flooding, Albertan’s across the province were questioning flood mitigation methods, what they were, how they worked, and how our province could move forward to address future flooding. The following are descriptions of community scale infrastructure, natural, and policy mitigation methods used to address flooding. Not every option is used in Alberta, some are examples taken from across Canada and around the world.
The various methods available vary in their effectiveness and cost.
Image by The Royal Society Science Policy Centre. Shared under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. (Report)
The selection of mitigation methods explained here are not meant to be an endorsement for any one method. Instead, the methods listed are intended to provide basic information of what mitigation methods are available and how they work.