Скачать или смотреть Google Earth Tour of a Proposed Flood Control Berm at the Sumas Border Crossing

It’s time for we Canadians to seriously consider building our own infrastructure to control the flood waters originating from the Nooksack River in Washington State. This silent, three minute video is a Google Earth tour of such a proposed infrastructure.

It would be best of course if the Americans built proper infrastructure on the Nooksack River to prevent flooding on both sides of the border. That is unlikely to happen for various reasons and we should stop pretending that it ever will. It is therefore time for us to prevent flooding on our side of the border by building an earthen berm along the Canada-US border with flood gates at the Sumas border crossing.

The berm infrastructure to keep the American flood waters on the American side of the border would be simple, inexpensive, and easy to build:

• Most of the infrastructure will consist of about 8.3 kilometers of earthen berm with no breaks for road or rail crossings. Future erosion of the berm is a minor factor in its design since this is not a river bank or an ocean shoreline.
• At the Sumas road and railway border crossing there will be about 300 meters of combined berm and simple, roll-into-place flood gates.
• Most of the berm and gates likely only need to be about 2-3 meters high. The 3 kilometers of berm at the east end would be a bit higher (say 4-5 meters) since the ground there is lowest.
• There is only one significant water crossing: the Sumas River which is normally only a small, placid creek at the border crossing. The creek is already in a culvert at the border and can be managed using a water flow control valve at flood times.
• Phase 1 of the project could be a 1-2 meter high earthen berm for the 3 kilometers at the east end. This in itself might be enough to control all but the worst flooding.

Phase 1 could be built in less than a year with the rest of the project completed a year later. The farmers on whose land the berm will be located will almost certainly cooperate since the berm benefits them the most.

Some people might be concerned the proposed berm will result in increased flooding in Washington State. Consider what would have happened if the positions were reversed. The Americans would have built the berm decades ago. Also, consider what President Trump would say or do if a river which is 100% in Canada consistently floods significant parts of the US.

I hope this proposal is taken seriously. It’s time we Canadian dealt with this problem ourselves.

Please send the link to this video to anyone you think is interested, particularly if they are in a position to make or influence decisions. This concept apparently has not been considered or even mentioned; at least not according to Google Search.