Bow River Reservoir Options

Environment and Protected Areas will move the Relocated Ghost Dam option forward to Phase 3: Engineering and regulatory approval process (beginning 2025).

Phase 3 of the project will be led by the Ministry of Transportation and Economic Corridors.

During the engineering and design process, detailed analysis, testing and design will be completed for the Relocated Ghost Dam option.

The Relocated Ghost Dam option will be evaluated by the appropriate federal and provincial regulatory bodies. Assessments will be conducted to examine the effects on the environment and determine if the project is in the public interest.

The province will proceed with applicable land acquisition during Phase 3 in preparation for future construction of the project.

Engagement with Indigenous communities and organizations and engagement with relevant stakeholders and property owners will be completed as part of Phase 3.

In spring 2021, Alberta began engagement and field studies for Phase 2 of the Bow River reservoir options initiative, the feasibility study. The final feasibility study report will be made available to the public.

The Bow River Reservoir options initiative looked at 3 reservoir options in the Bow River basin, upstream of Calgary:

• Relocated Ghost Dam: An expansion of the existing Ghost Reservoir
• Glenbow East: A new reservoir between Cochrane and the Bearspaw Dam at the western edge of Calgary
• Morley: A new reservoir between Seebe and Morley, on Stoney Nakoda Nations reserve lands
  • To save time and money, we determined the Morley option was not feasible.

Through the feasibility study, we deemed the Relocated Ghost Dam to be the best option. It is significantly better than the Glenbow East option with a lower cost, ability to meet the drought and flood mitigation performance objectives and fewer social and environmental impacts. The Relocated Ghost Dam has a smaller project footprint, and less overall impacts to the environment, property and infrastructure, while providing comparable water storage to the Glenbow East option.

Phase 2 assessed technical feasibility, while carefully considering the following elements:

• cultural
• economic
• engineering
• environmental
• social

The feasibility study started in spring 2020. For each option, the study looked at:

• technical feasibility
• effectiveness in mitigating flood and drought risk, while also providing water management flexibility
• potential impacts on communities, the environment and infrastructure
• costs and potential benefits
• additional engagement opportunities for Indigenous groups, stakeholders and the public

The Alberta government is working with WSP E&I Canada Limited to complete the feasibility study report.

The Bow River Working Group has supported sustainable water management in the Bow River Basin over the last decade. The mandate of this advisory group is to provide feedback and suggestions to Alberta’s government on the feasibility of the reservoir options identified in the conceptual assessment with the aim to reduce future flood damage and mitigate drought, improving the reliability of water supply in the Bow River basin.

The Bow River Working Group includes members from:

• municipalities along the Bow River, including the City of Calgary and Rocky View County
• First Nations
• industry, including TransAlta
• irrigation districts
• Bow River Basin Council
• environmental organizations
• provincial and federal government departments

As part of the feasibility study, the consultants carried out fieldwork to learn more about the potential dam sites and the surrounding areas.

The fieldwork included:

• geological (visual mapping), geotechnical (drilling boreholes) and geophysical (ground-based surveys) work to better understand the soil and bedrock conditions at the dam sites and surrounding lands
• environmental field studies of the reservoir areas and surrounding lands to evaluate the existing vegetation, wetlands, wildlife, fish, soils, groundwater and cultural and historical resources

The geological and geotechnical information helped the study team evaluate the technical feasibility of constructing a dam at any of the potential locations and, if so, how to design the dam. The environmental data gathered helped us better understand the existing environmental conditions around each potential site, and the potential impacts of building a dam and reservoir.

Landowner information

Information for landowners is posted on the Bow River Reservoir Options engagement page.

No studies are undertaken on any property without proper permissions.

The feasibility study engagement process built on the engagement completed in the conceptual assessment. Learn more about the engagement process.

A conceptual assessment was completed for the 3 reservoir options on the Bow River upstream of Calgary:

• Morley: A new reservoir between Seebe and Morley, on Stoney Nakoda Nations Reserve land
• Relocated Ghost Dam: An expansion of the existing Ghost Reservoir
• Glenbow East: A new reservoir between Cochrane and the Bearspaw Dam at the western edge of Calgary

The assessment began in November 2018 and concluded spring 2020. This assessment, primarily a desktop study based on existing information, considered 3 reservoir options at a high level of conceptual design. High quality drone footage of existing conditions along the Ghost and Glenbow stretches of the river was also collected and used in the assessment.

Information gathered from Indigenous communities and organizations, stakeholders and the public on social, environmental and cultural considerations, traditional land use and engineering and economic information was used to help further inform the assessment outcomes.

Findings confirmed the conceptual assessment objective that it is possible to increase flood and drought storage at all 3 reservoir option sites. No comparisons between the 3 reservoir options were made during the assessment.

The Conceptual Assessment Report was submitted to the Alberta government in spring 2020.