As part of that process, the U.S.-Canada International Joint Commission's Lake Champlain Richelieu River Study Board held its third public-comment forum on its draft work plan at SUNY Plattsburgh Thursday evening.
The Study Board was created after severe, long-lasting, record-breaking flooding on those waters for about two months in the spring of 2011.
The flooding caused widespread damage to shorelines, homes and properties in New York, Vermont and Quebec.
The draft work plan shows estimated damages of $8.6 million in Vermont, $9.9 million in New York and $72 million in Quebec (2100 U.S. and Canadian dollars).
COLLABORATION EYED
Speaking with the Press-Republican before the forum, International Joint Commission Senior Physical Scientist/GIS Coordinator Michael Thomas Laitta said an overall goal is to get the multiple partners to collaborate on a plan.
"You are dealing with two countries and three jurisdictions, each with their own strong point of view," he said.
In the past, he said, it has been a challenge to break through those barriers. Laitta thinks this is a chance to create new relationships among the agencies so they can work together on flood issues in the future.
Study Board Co-chair Keith Robinson said it helps that the Study Board and work groups have equal representation from both countries.
MAKING MODELS
The waterway is somewhat unique in that there are no control structures available to regulate flow.
One analysis group and three technical working groups have been created. They will focus on hydrology, hydraulics and mapping; resource response; flood management and mitigation; and social, political and economic analysis.
The aim is for a better understanding of what happened in the past, who it affected and how, what is likely to happen in the future and what can be done to lessen the impact of flooding.
Once they have hydrologic and hydraulic models set up, they will be able to better analyze the impact of mitigation measures such as wetlands and open floodplains.
DEALING WITH REALITY
Robinson said the social, political and economic component of the effort is something new for a study of this watershed.
"That has been a weakness in previous studies," he said.
"This study's really designed to get at the social, public and political realities in what we can (actually) do."
Robinson said the combination of increased development of shoreline and flood-plain areas results in more people being impacted by extreme weather events like the 2011 flooding.
"We need to understand how extreme drought and extreme floods impact our society and what we need to do about it," he said.
"It is happening."
SHARE VIEWS
The first two forums on the flooding study were held in Burlington and St. Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, on July 11 and 12, respectively.
The public can still submit comments.
That can be done online at www.participateijc.org/champlain-richelieu or by email at ChamplainRichelieu@ottawa.ijc.org.
The public-comment period runs through July 28.
TIMELINE
The Study Group is required to submit a final work plan by Oct. 2.
The board is expected to produce reports and tools that would be available to the affected communities and stakeholders.
It is tasked to produce a final report to the International Joint Commission in 2021, with recommendations for flood-mitigation measures the commission can then prioritize.
The expectation is that public involvement will make it easier for those measures to be approved by the appropriate governing bodies.
GOALS
Robinson said he hopes to see a fully integrated, bi-national forecasting and warning system.
Perhaps even more important would be to ensure it is sustainable and not subject to future political manipulation, Laitta said.
They cautioned that those decisions will not be made by the International Joint Commission but by the governments and agencies of both countries.
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