Local residents living along 2nd Street NE in Altona got a chance to see the results of a drainage study initiated by town council.

2nd Street NE consistently floods during moderate to heavy rainfall events which has flooded some properties and usually forces town crews to close sections of the road for several hours.

J.R. Cousin Consultants in Winnipeg conducted the drainage study and presented it's findings at an open house Tuesday night where four options were presented to deal with the drainage issue.

The first option included the installation of a new lift station at the corner of 2nd Street and 4th Avenue NE and new drain pipe to push the surface water into a ditch on the east side of Highway 30.

The second option is the same as option one, but the lift station would be located at the intersection of 2nd Street and 5th Avenue NE.

Both options 1 and 2 would come with a similar price tag of about $1.5 million to complete. 

Flooding along 2nd Street NE (File photo)

The third option involves the installation of a flow restricter in a catch basin that would essentially back up water north of 5th Avenue. That option is the least effective and much less expensive at about about $22,000.

The fourth option is to replace all the land drainage and sewer piping and upgrade it to the existing lift station at a cost of $3.1 million.

This is going be a difficult decision for town council to make as they weigh the need to do something for residents in that part of town against the high cost associated with some of those options.

"The options are fairly expensive and that's what we have to look at," said Mayor Melvin Klassen. "Regardless of what we do, we're looking at a million dollars at a minimum. That's a lot of money and yet I know the concern that those residents have and it's a very legitimate concern."

Local resident Harv Schroeder attended the open house with about half a dozen other concerned citizens.

Schroeder has lived in the southeast part of town for several decades and says the drainage problem has only gotten worse over that time as more pavement and concrete has been laid down on local streets, parking lots and driveways.

"I think there are some good ideas on how to deal with the situation. Money is definitely the issue here and I guess we'll see what council comes up with. There will always be water on a street after a rainfall, but what we're dealing with now is unacceptable and something needs to be done," said Schroeder.

Local chiropractor Dr. George Redhead's office is located along 2nd Street and his property is often inundated by the wave action of standing water from passing vehicles.

"The problem is that if it rains in the middle of the day people can not get to my office because it's inaccessible. So, there's a loss of traffic for that reason."

Asked if he thought the cost of fixing the drainage problem would be an obstacle for town council, Dr. Redhead replied.

"They found the money at the time to build the infrastructure in the 1950's. We've got to find the infrastructure to be able to pay for it now."

If town council decides to go with one of the more expensive options it would have to be a long term budget item, according to mayor Klassen. He added, some government infrastructure funding would definitely help to ease the cost burden.

"If there would be some Building Canada funds for this, we would certainly want to be shovel ready. Hopefully they would see this project as something they could help fund. We've been fortunate so far in getting grants like that," Klassen said.