The record rainfall that hit Windsor, Tecumseh and Lakeshore in September is going to change how officials in the region approach dealing with storm water.
Tim Byrne, director of watershed management services with Essex Region Conservation, says the authority is studying the problem, looking for ways to better create systems to handle more common, heavy, intense rainfalls.
"Climate is changing. Climate variability and climate change is something that we have to attempt to get ahead of, not respond to, but get ahead of," says Byrne.
According to Byrne, the "age old means" of dealing with storm water by catching the rain and sending it down a pipe to a catch basin isn't going to cut it for more frequent heavy rainfalls expected in the future.
"There's a timing problem with that, there's an inlet capacity problem with that. We have to now start looking at it from a different perspective," says Byrne. "Catch the water on the roadways. Allow the water to spill from roadways out onto other municipally owned and managed infrastructure such as parks, trails, walkways."
"Take opportunities for other things other than trying to catch water and sending it down to a catch basin or storm sewer."
A report by the authority into the late September flooding shows up to 200 mm (8 inches) of rain fell in less than 8 hours, overwhelming area facilities.
Byrne says all pumps at local facilities were working as designed, but were simply overwhelmed by the rainfall that significantly surpassed a 1 in 100 year storm.
The report shows insurable damages caused by the storm exceeding $108-million.
Byrne says more reports will be coming back to the board outlining potential plans of action — and the attached costs.
