Due to the devastating floods in Alberta, the province’s premier Alison Redford, has said that recovery will take 10 years. But unfortunately, what cannot be brought back to normal is the Rockies and its foothills, according to a Canadian scientist.
John Pomeroy, who is the Canada research chair of water resources and climate change andworks at the University of Saskatchewan, said the floods have permanently changed everything about the Rocky Mountains, including how they look! According to theCANADIAN PRESS, the scientist said that the floods have even caused an entire mountainside near his research station to collapse.
Climate change has caused watersheds to change stream flows so dramatically that the streams will need to be remapped, he said in the same interview. These changes are expected to affect the animals and plants that live in these areas. For example, trout in the Bow River are threatened because the water contains a sedimentary material called silt.
What is most alarming though, is that Pomeroy said that climate change may cause more flooding in the future! Climate change has greatly changed precipitation. Snow or rain that falls on top of snow is now sometimes simply rain, which increases the likelihood of more floods in the future.
To prevent a future disaster, Pomeroy suggested in the interview that Alberta should rethink development on the Bow Valley, since it rests on flood plains. He also said that Alberta should build flood walls in the Bow River and should improve flood control and power generation in the waters as well.