AMEC to Improve Travers Reservoir Flood Protection Capabilities

AMEC is to design and monitor construction of improvements to the 52-year-old Travers Reservoir, one of Alberta's major irrigation reservoirs, that will enable it to continue its significant role in the management of southern Alberta's water resources.

Last spring's flooding in southern Alberta led to increased attention to Alberta's water resources infrastructure. As a result, Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation has awarded AMEC the design and construction phase of the Travers Reservoir project.

"We're very proud and excited to be working on such an important project," said John Slater, VP of Water Resources in Western Canada. "Upgrading the reservoir is essential to ensuring adequate and reliable water supply to southern Alberta."

The AMEC team will prepare rehabilitation plans for the existing spillway structure to better accommodate potential flood flows, including the new equipment designed to withstand ice pressures.

AMEC is also investigating the integrity of the existing structure and will design an additional major spillway system which will accommodate greater flood flows.

The reservoir is created by a 44 metre high dam and has a surface area of 2,250 hectares and a total storage capacity of over 31 million cubic meters. It is part of the South Saskatchewan River drainage basin and receives most of its water from the Bow River via the Carseland Bow River Headworks main canal including McGregor Reservoir.

The success of irrigation after McGregor Lake and Little Bow Lake Reservoir were built, and the drought years of the 1930s prompted nearby communities to request more irrigation projects. At the same time, delivery of water from McGregor Lake to Little Bow Lake Reservoir was difficult due to 20 kilometres of canals connecting the two. In 1951, the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration began construction of Travers Reservoir to replace the canals and to provide additional storage to meet demands for irrigation water. In 1954, the reservoir was filled for the first time.

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Posted 06/04/06

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