Residents around Fancy Lake are sounding the alarm around flooding of their property.
They’re calling for a control structure to manage how water is released from a series of lakes that make up the water supply for parts of the Lunenburg Municipality and Town of Bridgewater.
Hebbville resident Glen Hebb presented his concerns at a meeting at the MODL offices with representatives from all three levels of government.
Hebb says a series of dams between Menamkeak, Millipsigate and Hebb’s Lakes diverts water into Fancy Lake which supplies water to parts of the Lunenburg Municipality and Town of Bridgewater.
Fancy Lake is home to a protected species of White Fish.
According to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the water levels occasionally need to be adjusted to secure spawning areas.
Hebb says when water is released from Fancy Lake, it overruns many of the surrounding properties.
“We feel that you just cannot release water on another lake that does not have the ability to pass it. So if you can not pass water, you become a flood plain.”
Hebb says after several false starts, he’d like to see everyone involved work together.
“I’m hoping that we can have this resolved before we get that combination of snow melt, or those rain events that are going to flood us. It’s going to happen.”
A meeting has been scheduled in September to allow all parties concerned to gather more information.
Hebbville resident Jamie Richard explains how water flowing through lake system causes flooding for homeowners around Fancy Lake pic.twitter.com/2cLOQPucrr
— Ed Halverson (@edwardhalverson) May 29, 2018
Meanwhile, the Environmental Services Manager for the Public Service Commission, which runs water services for the Town of Bridgewater says there’s not much they can do.
Tim Hiltz says the resident’s homes are built on a flood plain.
“We’ve been around the table on this many times. PSC has been very forthcoming with their opinion about what their involvement is on this, and have worked very hard with the regulators.”
Hiltz says PSC staff have done their best to mitigate the water flow, but there’s only so much they can do in this situation.
“If you look at any flooding situation, whether it’s the Saint John River or you look at any other flooding incident, you’ll find that the common denominator in all of those, is that we’ve built on a flood plain.”
Hiltz recognizes this issue is emotionally charged.
He says the PSC works hard to ensure they meet all regulations set out by DFO and the department of the environment.
