Future spring ice flow a concern

Cole Carruthers

Residents are concerned spring temperatures could bring another year of heavy ice jamming.

Published on February 25, 2013

Cole Carruthers

Residents are concerned with thoughts of looming ice run off once the spring weather hits Moose Jaw in earnest.

A winter of heavy snowfall and fluctuating temperatures has left mixtures of ice and water along the Moose Jaw river.

Last week a track hoe doing construction on the temporary CPR Dam broke through the ice and had to be pulled out.

“You have to remain very cautious of where you are ... especially around areas where there is dark or discoloured ice on the river,” Wakamow Valley manager Margaret Moran said. “We haven’t done measurements of the ice yet, because of the lower water levels.”

Moran said the mixture of a winter where we had warmer and colder weather, the snow actually insulates the water running in the river to cause thinner ice levels.

“You’ll have water running underneath and on top of ice levels making it less stable,” Moran said. “That’s what happened with the Kingsway Dam ... (the water) is constantly moving, it’s not static –– it’s a living entity.”

Wakamow resident Rick Klein said it’s a constant worry each spring what will happen with water levels. “It was dry in the fall compared to what we saw two years ago in 2011, the ground was completely saturated with no room for run off.”

Klein said he expects once this year’s spring run off takes place similar occurrences could follow. “We’re always concerned with the amount of ice running off ... it causes destruction to the banks and everything that was patched with the (CPR) Dam could be damaged again.”

For more on this article pick up the next issue of the Times-Herald.

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