This N.B. town has had chronic flooding problems. A solution is finally getting closer

A years-long effort to address chronic flooding in Tantramar is a step closer to completion. 

The southeastern New Brunswick town, which includes Sackville, started work on a multi-phase flood mitigation project in 2017.

It involves upgraded drainage systems, a series of holding ponds and an upgraded aboiteau that discharges the water into the tidal Tantramar River. The aboiteau allows water to go out, but not flow back in.

The New Brunswick government announced it would spend $2.4 million on that aboiteau last week. 

"It's a win for us- a long time coming," Mayor Andrew Black said in an interview Tuesday.

He said prior to securing the funding the town planned to rely on pumping water over a dike because the existing aboiteau is small and heavily silted. The dike and aboiteau are provincially owned.

Black said the details of the new aboiteau still need to be settled, but it would likely mean the town won't have to rely on a manually operated pumping system when there's a flood risk. 

"This is hugely significant for our town," Black said. "It's a big win. We're very pleased that the provincial government has been able to secure this for us and we're very pleased to see this work getting done."

CBC News asked the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure for details about the work, including when it would take place. More than 24 hours later, the department said work to replace the aboiteau built in the 1950s would be begin this year.

The work addresses the risk of freshwater flooding. It is separate from a push to address saltwater flooding along the Chignecto Isthmus.

The first phase of the work, which the town calls the Lorne Street storm water mitigation project, began in 2017 with upgrades to Lorne and St. James streets.

A second phase involved digging a new water holding pond east of Lorne Street in 2019, a phase that cost more than expected in part because of contaminated soil.

A third phase involves another holding pond in a former quarry on land purchased from Mount Allison University last year. That work is expected to be complete by mid-August.

Another pond this year

Tantramar council voted in February to award a contract worth more than $5 million to Beale & Inch Construction for another portion of phase three.

That work, expected to be complete by the end of the year, involves building another holding pond near Fleet Street.

The February vote wasn't unanimous. Coun. Bruce Phinney voted against it, saying it was a waste of money. He said council should wait to see what work is done on the Chignecto Isthmus. 

Improvements to dikes around the Bay of Fundy between Sackville and Amherst, N.S., to protect the Trans-Canada Highway and a rail line have been estimated to cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Other councillors said they are two separate issues and it could be years before the Chignecto Isthmus work goes ahead.

"If we sit back and wait, we may have something happen before then, and I don't want to see that," Coun. Michael Tower said.

Black said the town's flood mitigation plan, including the aboiteau work, would cost about $16.3 million. 

It's spending that he said should address a longstanding problem.

"It would pretty much alleviate the flooding issues that we have in the lowest part of our town," Black said.