You've heard of fighting fire with fire, but what about fighting water with water?
That’s the idea at the heart of a new research proposal from the University of British Columbia (UBC), which suggests the best way to prevent flooding in major areas of the Fraser Valley may be to intentionally cause it.
The study was published in the journal Protecting the frontiers of scienceresearch recovery ideas Sumas Lake In Abbotsford.
In the 1920s, the BC government drained the lake to create farmland. Expulsion of the Sumas Nation and its members.
Sumas Prairie was one of the areas in the Fraser Valley hardest hit by the 2021 floods, which devastated southwestern B.C.
“Given the increasing risk of flooding from climate change, this region is going to experience flooding again,” Tara Martin, professor of conservation science and senior author of the study, told Global News.
“In a time of climate crisis, we can't keep doing the same thing. We can't keep trying to hold back the water and the fire. We have to adapt.”
Martin's research proposes what is called “managed evacuation,” the purposeful relocation of people and infrastructure to safer areas.
The study looked at the cost of buying back more than 1,300 properties in Sumas Prairie at current assessed values.
Martin said doing so would be cheaper than some current proposals to protect Abbotsford from future flooding.
“It would cost less than $1 billion to buy back all of these properties,” she said.
“When we look at the options that are currently being proposed by the City of Abbotsford, they range from a few hundred million dollars to $2.4 billion.”
In 2022, Abbotsford reviewed four long-term flood protection options, ranging in price from $200 million to $2.8 billion — ultimately settling on a hybrid option The final cost is towards the high end of the range.
“The cost of an orderly evacuation is within the range of options currently being considered by the City of Abbotsford – so it begs the question, why isn't it being considered?” she asked.
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But the proposal was met with a cold reception by those working in Abbotsford's agricultural sector.
Matt Dykshoorn, a dairy farmer in Sumas Prairie, called it “an impossible feat.”
“I think the feasibility of this is very low,” he said.
“It makes no sense from an economic perspective. It makes no sense from a food security perspective. It makes no sense from a logistical perspective to relocate so many people who work in agriculture because there's not that much land available in British Columbia.”
Jeremy Dunn, general manager of the Dairy Association of British Columbia, said the proposal ignores the importance of agricultural land in Abbotsford.
He added that farmers are looking for solutions that will allow them to continue to survive in the area for generations.
“This is some of the most productive farmland in Canada. It supports dairy farms, chicken farms, poultry and multiple commodities,” he said.
“We are in a province where there is often not enough farmland and the population is growing dramatically.”
Abbotsford Mayor Ross Siemens echoed those concerns, saying another flooding of the lake would have a huge impact on British Columbia's ability to produce food.
“It is our responsibility to ensure community infrastructure protects our communities and residents … that is why we are looking at flood mitigation measures rather than options for re-flooding,” he said in a statement.
“Having flooding again would be a completely different direction and would require the involvement of all governments.”
Martin said there is no doubt that flooding the lake again would have some adverse effects, but she noted the provincial government is willing to sacrifice agricultural land to build other projects, such as the Site C Dam and the Trans Mountian pipeline expansion.
At the same time, it could bring other benefits, she said.
These include environmental benefits, such as restoring up to 10 percent of salmon habitat in the lower Fraser River.
She said it also marks a major step toward reconciliation with the Sumas First Nation, which historically used the lake as its breadbasket.
“I remember as a kid the elders talking about Sumas Lake, boating, fishing and hunting on Sumas Lake… they all had experiences on the lake, talked about the bounty of the lake and how important it was to everyone,” said Sumas First Nation Chief Lemxyaltexw (Dalton Silver).
“Ideally, this would be good not only for our country but also for the ecology itself.”
Martin said an orderly evacuation does not have to be all or nothing. There are options to reflood parts of the original lake area while preserving critical infrastructure.
“It doesn’t have to cover the entire lake,” Martin said.
“We can use some of the existing levees to manage the flow, but ultimately the water needs to go somewhere, and the amount of water that lands in these atmospheric river events is more than the current system can handle.”
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