After Weeks Of Flooding, Exshaw Resident Asked For Help Keeping Water Away. Her Requests Were Denied.

Briana MacLeod spent weeks this June running six sump pumps beneath her East Exshaw home, plus a gas-powered pump in her yard.

“So I was up every two hours for like two weeks straight,” she said.

After experiencing the worst flooding in her four years on Pigeon Mountain Drive, MacLeod asked the MD of Bighorn for three drainage improvements. All three requests were denied.

She wanted the drainage ditch behind her street lined with concrete to prevent water from soaking back into the ground, a pipe residents could pump water into, or permission to install a permanent pipe beneath the back lane at her own expense, rather than running hoses across it.

“If you pump water into a ditch across the street from your house, that’s essentially just gonna sink into the ground and seep back into the rising water table near your house,” MacLeod said. “I don’t think that they’re very expensive or complicated. It’s just like, can we have a permanent place to pump our water to so that it’s not seeping back into our homes?”

MacLeod said she understands the need for a long-term solution, but believes smaller improvements should be made in the meantime.

“I would expect some small basic improvements to be done every year,” she said.

The MD also indicated that, given the staff time spent addressing previous correspondence, it may not be able to respond to further detailed questions about the flooding.

“Our street probably has the most experience with this and the most feedback to give, and they just seemed annoyed that I sent one email on it,” MacLeod said.

What the MD says

The MD says the existing drainage ditch can handle rainwater from the surrounding area, but it has no immediate plans to make the improvements MacLeod requested.

An independent engineering review found the ditch could handle runoff from major storms, both before and after construction of Exshaw Mountain Gateway, a new development behind Pigeon Mountain Drive.

The assessment focused on the ditch's ability to carry rainwater, while MacLeod's concern is whether water pumped from nearby homes could seep back into the ground.

The developer of Exshaw Mountain Gateway is responsible for restoring the ditch and adjusting its slope to improve water flow.

In written responses to Bow Valley Insider, the MD said concrete lining and connections for residents' pumps were not included in the approved plans. Additional improvements are not currently budgeted for but could be considered following a future drainage study.

Asked why residents were denied permission to install their own drainage infrastructure beneath the back lane, the MD did not directly answer, instead pointing to the upcoming study.

What happens next?

According to a Sept. 8 council report, the MD has applied for $70,000 in federal funding toward a $95,000 study that would examine flooding across Exshaw, identify possible solutions and gather feedback from residents.

A funding decision is expected in late December or early January, meaning work would not begin until 2027. If funding is denied, the MD plans a smaller $30,750 study without public consultation or additional climate assessments unless council approves more funding.

Doug Fulford, the MD's Director of Flood Recovery, said groundwater levels near Pigeon Mountain Drive have been monitored since 2020.

An earlier study examined two possible solutions: an underground barrier to block groundwater and a municipal pumping system to remove it. Neither was considered feasible.

“There does not appear to be an easy solution,” Fulford said, noting that many homes were built before the area's groundwater problems were well understood.

Some residents believe the MD's 2019 flood protection project on Exshaw Creek worsened groundwater flooding. However, a 2023 study commissioned by the municipality found the project's sediment pond had only a limited influence on groundwater levels.

Bow Valley Insider has previously reported on the dispute.

The MD plans to review its response to this year's flooding over the winter.

Asked whether smaller improvements, including drainage pipes and concrete-lined ditches, could receive funding, MD communications coordinator Thomas Judek said council approval would be required.

What the developer says

Jason Hoerle of Exshaw Mountain Gateway Inc. said the drainage ditch was completed in 2025, but work is still needed to adjust its slope as construction wraps up.

The ditch's design was approved by the developer, the MD and engineering firm McElhanney.

Planning documents for the development also include a commitment to work with the MD on drainage improvements along the back lane behind Pigeon Mountain Drive.

Asked whether the current ditch repairs would fulfill that commitment, the MD did not provide a direct answer.

Neighbours stepped in to help

While longer-term solutions remain uncertain, MacLeod said neighbours and local company Graymont stepped in to help during the flooding.

When she had to travel to Toronto for work, MacLeod arranged for 18 people to take turns refuelling her gas-powered pump.

“One time I had a work trip in Toronto, so I had 18 different people on a schedule, like get up at two, go to Briana’s house, fill the gas pump with gas... the street has been super helpful, and Graymont lent the community some gas pumps, that was so nice of them to do, because we couldn’t even buy gas pumps, everything was out of stock.”

Graymont operates a lime and limestone plant in Exshaw.

For MacLeod, the experience showed how neighbours could find small solutions while waiting for larger improvements.

“People were helping each other build trenches in their yards, and it sounds so silly, but it is a way to drain water out of your yard, and it seems so small, but I just think I realized this season that people coming together and finding small solutions in the absence of big ones is a big deal, and it’s important that the MD tries to do the same,” she said.