A committee with the City of Calgary has put their stamp of approval on a plan to flood proof one of the city’s premiere attractions – the Calgary Zoo.
The Calgary Zoo suffered major damage in the flooding in June 2013, and had to close its doors for five months to conduct repairs on a majority of the facility.
Flood mitigation work has been going ever since the floodwaters disabled the zoo and the plan they’ve come up with includes a berm designed to prevent the Bow River from flooding the facility again.
Officials say they want to isolate the zoo island from flood waters.
The proposal also includes a new drainage system, bringing the total cost of the project to $25M.
A private committee met on Tuesday to figure out how much money it would commit or if it might be better to move the zoo entirely.
However, Mayor Naheed Nenshi doesn’t believe that is a viable option.
“The cost to move the zoo would be hundreds of millions of dollars - far more than protecting the zoo.”
The committee approved $1.2M on Tuesday to be used to start preliminary design work on the berms and drainage system.
