The City of Grand Forks will be spending $270,000 for work to prevent any further erosion of the slag pile on Granby Road.
The decision came after erosion was discovered in the pile in an area beneath which Overton Creek was believed to flow.
The money, taken from the city’s slag sales reserve fund, was approved by council to pay for professional geotechnical evaluation of the affected area through monitoring of movement in the slag pile, and for redirecting Overton Creek to a closed culvert running south along Granby road, exiting into the Granby River south of the pile.
“The diversion of the creek is a permanent diversion,” Grand Forks CAO Doug Allin said. “We don’t know if that is the final solution to addressing the problem. According to the geotech, that is one of his recommendations, and the most imminent one because the creek will be flowing beneath the slag pile (during spring runoff).”
The final design of the diversion is being planned now, Allin said, and will be approved, tendered and implemented before spring.
“As soon as we’ve completed this (diversion) project, we’re going to be setting up monitoring on the slag pile to monitor the movements, if there are any movements,” Allin said.
He added that there have been conversations with some of the residents of the flats opposite the slag concerning any danger posed by the slag pile and the city’s response to the situation. He added that there is no serious concern. “One of the things we need to keep in mind is that the slag has been sitting there since the early 1900s and that with things that have been sitting there for that long a time, there is going to be some movement, but we think we understand the order of magnitude and will make sure that it is not going to create a bad situation of us.”
Nevertheless, the city has requested that Fire Chief Dale Heriot and his staff draw up a contingency plan in case the slag pile should move enough to partially block the Granby River.
Heriot said that the plan will be finished by the time the spring run-off begins and will cover all foreseeable contingencies. He added that such plans include the involvement of all available services including the fire department, RCMP and Search and Rescue.