Arrow shows where softer material pushed in the sides of the new ditch and caused the service road at left to sink a few inches
Town Engineer Jon Eppell says construction crews working on the third and final phase of the Lorne Street flood control project are dealing with the unexpected discovery of black, peat-like material between Crescent Street and the dyke that holds back the Tantramar River.
“We hit some soft spots,” Eppell said today in a telephone interview. “So, we’re putting larger rocks in to stabilize it.”
The softer material, which is being trucked away, pushed in the sides of the new ditch the Beale & Inch crews are digging and caused the service road they’re building to sink slightly, but Eppell says the project is still on track.
He explains that crews will soon begin extending the ditch to the site where a new aboiteau will be installed to discharge storm water through the dyke and into the river at low tide.
“We had to wait for the province to issue the WAWA permit,” he says referring to the Watercourse and Wetland Alteration Permit that is required before work can proceed in environmentally sensitive areas.
Photo, taken from the dyke, shows the existing ditch on the left with the new, wider ditch that will soon be extended to a new aboiteau to be installed at provincial expense in the dyke. The fencing on the left surrounds Sackville’s main sewage lagoons
Eppell says that the town will need other WAWA permits including one for the digging of a large water retention pond behind the community gardens on Charles Street.
“We probably won’t get that for another month, but it doesn’t matter because we don’t plan to start digging that pond until September to avoid interfering with the nesting of migratory birds,” he explains.
He expects the Crescent Street work to be finished “probably within a week” before crews start installing pipes under Sloan Street.
Meantime, Eppell says all of the work has been completed “except for a couple of minor things” at Sackville’s old Pickard Quarry. A control structure, designed to slow the flow of water down to Lorne Street during heavy storms, is now in place.
He explains that the quarry itself will serve as a water retention pond, smaller than the one that was dug during Phase II of the project south of St. James Street and the one that crews will dig this fall east of Charles.
For earlier coverage, click here.
Photo shows top of the Pickard Quarry water control structure with retention pond at rear
“black peaty stuff” sounds spongey.. perhaps has had a reasoning behind its use and its true purpose? I hope that it turns out all these millions being spent was to accelerate the flooding of this area.. that would be a really cruel joke by the technocrats/envirocrats who want humans off lands and into 15 minute smart cities… I know Bruce.. I know… you don’t believe in this stuff. Once during a town council meeting I watched on Youtube not that long ago I heard Sabine Dietz utter the words “when are we going to talk about relocation?”…. sure sounded ominous to me. Dietz has been left to draw maps putting my home underwater.. some might say there is an Agenda at play if one were paying attention to the big picture.
Curious if anyone can comment on the relative merits of banking these areas with rock rather than planting things that will hold the banks together with roots. Dumping rock on dykes, for ex in Westcock, has done nothing to secure the dykes there against erosion. The strongest dykes are the ones with lots of healthy vegetation locking the earth together and preventing them from washing away.
Climate change modeling has new predictions not considered by planners when the flood control plans were rubber stamped by the new council. There are many palms being greased by the province in the name of saving us. The focus is so narrow on the assessment impact of carbon on the atmosphere, other atmospheric elements are being ignored. New models such as an Earth-System Model (ESM) look at other compounds that influence global climate (that black peaty stuff) when disturbed goes from being a carbon sink to a carbon source releasing into the atmosphere hundreds of years of stored carbon. Plus methane, nitrous oxide and some halogen elements which have not been widely studied. Damaged or removed Peat land is a major source of greenhouse gases. We have been very gullible in believing government, which sign treaties that only march on paper.
COVID 19 shutdowns did not make much difference in the long-lived greenhouse gases. The reduced emissions lead to cleaner air, but in the end increased climate warming. For example global warming in the artic is increasing because albedo particles such Sulphur dioxide which reflects light are being removed and like all the other natural cycles that man tinkers with climate warming increases. These aerosols (mask) the earth. Capping coal mines seems like a wonderful idea until it has the unintended consequence of backfiring. Then there is the fact that these projects ignoring the historical methods of the Acadians in protecting dykes with natural substances. Crushed stone is not natural and brings different nutrients into the Bay. Just a few kilometers away the restoration of streams is making sure unnatural highland material is not used.. Even with the 52% success rate for these projects, you can consider it a failure which is the norm for these types of projects. Definitely an interconnected system that we are not smart enough to reset.