Following the release of the draft updated Flood Hazard Area maps, Calgary River Valleys Project Stage 2 engagement occurred January 29 - March 3, 2024.

In this stage, we examined floodplain policy and land use decisions, with a focus on location-specific regulations.

Thank you to all who participated in Stage 2 engagement. The Stage 2 What We Heard Report is now available on the project engage portal. 

Stage 2 engagement opportunities included:  

Online survey
An online survey was available on the engage portal project January 29 to March 3, 2024.  

High Hazard Flood Fringe virtual session
View the High Hazard Flood Fringe virtual information session held on Monday, February 26, 2024.

Virtual information sessions
Two virtual information sessions were held on  January 31 and February 13, 2024. View the session here.

Stage 1 engagement occurred in spring and summer 2023. It provided opportunities to discuss and share our river valley values and priorities at a high level. 

This stage was an opportunity for all Calgarians to voice what is important about the river valleys. Your feedback and values will shape approaches to development, recreation, natural space and flood hazard planning.  

Stage 1 engagement opportunities included:  

Online
An online survey was available on the project engage portal April 27 to June 5, 2023.

River Valley Roadshows

• April 27  – Old Fire Hall #6 (Poppy Plaza)
• May 4  – Seton Public Library (at Brookfield YMCA)
• May 10 – The Confluence Historic Site & Parkland (previously Fort Calgary)
• May 16  – Four Points Sheraton Hotel West

Outdoor pop-up events

• July 18  – East Village, by the Simmons Building
• July 19 – Lindsay Park, on pathway behind MNP Centre
• July 20 – Edworthy Park, north side of the bridge, near Angel’s Café

Thank you to all who participated in Stage 1 engagement. The What We Heard Report for Stage 1 engagement is now available.

The Land Use Bylaw is a collection of regulations that direct the use of land and the size and shape of buildings. Every property in the city is subject to a land use district that describes these conditions.

The Land Use Bylaw also contains overlay maps that add additional rules to certain areas. Overlays account for local conditions relating to things like industrial offsets, airport noise, and natural risks.

Calgary’s Regulatory Flood Maps form one overlay in Calgary’s Land Use Bylaw, and identify risk areas with associated land use and building regulations that help keep people safe and protect their properties from floods. 

With new provincial flood hazard area mapping and City-led river flood-related groundwater mapping now available, The City is working to update the Regulatory Flood Map.

The proposed Regulatory Flood Maps will incorporate both Provincial Flood Hazard Area mapping, as well as City river flood-related groundwater mapping. It will include the following areas:

• Floodway
• High Hazard Flood Fringe
• Flood Fringe
• Protected Flood Fringe
• Groundwater Flood Fringe

The City has developed a draft online interactive version of Calgary’s proposed Regulatory Flood Map for the purposes of the current Calgary River Valleys Project engagement. You can see the extent of each area city-wide and zoom in to your property to determine which hazard area, if any, applies to you.

On the Calgary River Valleys Project engage portal, you can also find a wealth of information about each hazard area, including mapping, proposed regulations, and opportunities to provide your feedback.

If your property is partially located in the Floodway, High Hazard Flood Fringe, Flood Fringe, Protected Flood Fringe or Groundwater Flood Fringe, or is located in multiple regulatory flood areas, the regulations for the most restrictive area in which the building is located will apply.

Many of Calgary’s older communities were built on rivers’ floodplains. Over the decades, our understanding of the flood risk in these areas has improved, leading to safer building practices.

Since the 2013 flood, changes have been made to Calgary’s Municipal Development Plan and Land Use Bylaw to provide guidance and better regulate development within the Flood Hazard Area. 

Today, some property-level floodproofing is required through building regulations during renovations and new builds. Measures may include: 

• Building the main floor above the flood level 
• Installing sump pumps and backflow valves 
• Elevating furnaces and electrical panels 

Other voluntary actions can further reduce damage to homes, such as installing water alarms in the basement and finishing the basement with easy-to-clean materials. 

As part of the Calgary River Valleys Project, floodplain policies and regulations are being reviewed and will be incorporated in the Calgary Plan and Land Use Bylaw.  

Through updates to our flood hazard regulations, The City is seeking to:

• Align our land use planning with investments in flood mitigation.
• Bring our latest understanding of flood hazard and groundwater risks and design elevations into our Land Use Bylaw.
• Enhance safety in high-risk areas, especially for basement living spaces.
• Help buildings recover from more severe floods as our climate changes.

Importantly, the proposed regulations are appropriately scaled to the level of flood risk and scale of new development or building addition.

Calgarians can explore and provide feedback on the draft regulations for each of the proposed hazard areas as part of Stage 3 engagement.

All buildings in the flood hazard area must be designed to a Designated Flood Elevation (DFE).  

The DFEs proposed for each flood hazard area are: 

• Floodway, High Hazard Flood Fringe, Flood Fringe: the 1:100 river elevation 
• Protected Flood Fringe, Groundwater Flood Fringe: the groundwater elevation during a 1:100 river flood

Regulation in the flood zones is the jurisdiction of The City of Calgary. Until The City of Calgary policies and bylaws have been updated, development applications will continue to be assessed according to existing regulations.  

The City also considers information from the updated Flood Hazard Area map to provide advisory comments, or to permit relaxations as appropriate, for further resilience. As always, applicants may draw on additional information in support of their applications. 

Amendments to The City’s Land Use Bylaw for flood hazard regulations will be presented for approval at a Public Hearing of Calgary City Council in 2026.

Until the new regulations are finalized and incorporated into the Land Use Bylaw, development applications will continue to be assessed using existing Land Use Bylaw rules.

We will continue to share the best available flood risk information with development applicants and others to provide advisory comments for further resilience, or to permit relaxations as appropriate, as we have since 2013. 

Insurers produce and use their own flood maps and have indicated they do not typically use government flood maps.  

Both the Government of Alberta and The City of Calgary are happy to speak to property owners about how their property is mapped and can provide information for insurers upon request.  

Calgarians can contact 311 to inquire about the status of mapping, applicable bylaw regulations, advisory information or development implications on their property. 

The Government of Alberta manages the production of Flood Hazard Area maps, which identify the areas of land that would be impacted by river flooding during a 1:100 design flood. This means a flood that has a one per cent chance of occurring each year. The flood hazard areas are divided into different zones based on the flood water intensity. 

The maps reflect the existing flood mitigation infrastructure in place at the time of the studies. Going forward, revisions to the Flood Hazard Area maps will be considered when flood mitigation, such as the Sunnyside Flood Barrier, are constructed or upgraded. 

Flooding can cause property damage, hardship to people and loss of life. Cities use Flood Hazard Area maps to guide local decision-making that will help keep people safe and protect their properties from floods. 

The updated Flood Hazard Area maps reflect the latest understanding of a 1:100 flood risk across the province, including Calgary. The province has adopted a new approach to flood hazard area mapping. This approach divides the flood hazard area into four categories (two of which are new) that reflect the level of risk of overland flooding: 

• Floodway: An area where flows are deepest, fastest and most destructive. New development is typically discouraged in this zone. 
• High Hazard Flood Fringe (New): An area outside of the floodway where the flow during a 1:100 flood would be deeper (greater than 1 metre) and/or faster (greater than 1 metre/second) than the rest of the flood fringe. 
• Flood Fringe: An area where the flow during a 1:100 flood would be shallower, slower and less destructive than the High Hazard Flood Fringe. This is an existing classification, but the boundaries may have changed. 
• Protected Flood Fringe (New): An area where dedicated existing flood mitigation infrastructure (such as City-owned and maintained flood barriers) protects the area to at least the 1:100 flood level. 

The existing Overland Flow Zone designation is being removed, as these areas are being incorporated into the other zones as appropriate.  

The Springbank Off-Stream Reservoir (SR1) began operations in 2025. Updated Flood Hazard Maps reflect the additional flood protection provided by this new upstream infrastructure. Communities on the Elbow River downstream of the Glenmore Reservoir are now protected from overland floods up to 1:200.

• The Floodway has shifted slightly to account for the operations of the new upstream infrastructure. The Floodway remains a high-risk area and is generally not suitable for new development.
• The High Hazard Flood Fringe and Flood Fringe are effectively contained in the existing river channel, reflecting the area’s reduced risk profile.

SR1 significantly reduces overland flood risk along the Elbow River, but residual flood risk remains. The operations of SR1 will lead to a steady release of diverted flood water once the flood event subsides. During this release, water levels in the Elbow River will remain high until the upstream reservoir is empty. A new Groundwater Flood Fringe map has been developed by The City to identify this risk.  

No. Provincial flood studies focus on river flood hazards – when high water escapes the river and inundates the floodplain.

However, many riverside communities in Calgary may experience basement flooding when higher river levels cause changes in the groundwater table. 

As part of the Calgary River Valleys Project, The City conducted the Calgary River Valleys Groundwater Study. The study involved:  

• Mapping groundwater levels during flood events in river valley areas.   
• Estimating impact. 
• Exploring options for resilience measures.  
• Developing a new groundwater risk overlay zone for Calgary. 

Groundwater mapping and resilience measures are being presented during the Calgary River Valleys Project Stage 3 public engagement. 

Both The City of Calgary and the Government of Alberta recognize the importance of timely maps reflecting current, actual risk. Structural mitigation under construction or in planning phases still needs to be reflected in new maps, such as the Sunnyside Barrier.

Once projects are completed, the province has a process for reassessing the impacts on calculated flood levels and flood maps and will consider impacts on the flood map. In some cases, including for the Sunnyside Barrier, draft maps reflecting the future flood barrier have been included in the study reports that accompany the maps, and the map will be updated once the barrier is complete. 

Upstream flood resilience solutions on the Bow River are critically important for Calgary. 

The City of Calgary continues to advocate to the Province for an upstream reservoir on the Bow River, recognizing the importance of a project of this nature for both flood resilience and water security in our community. 

In 2024, The Government of Alberta advanced the Relocated Ghost Dam option to Phase 3 for further study. This potential upstream mitigation on the Bow River is an important long-term milestone at least a decade away. 

If new dams or reservoirs dedicated to flood mitigation are built in the future, and if their impact on flood flows is established to be dependable and significant, the province will re-evaluate hydrology assessments and hydraulic modelling and consider flood map revisions once final construction is completed, if appropriate. 

No. Flood hazard maps are developed by the province and provide important information about the most current understanding of our community’s flood risk.

The final mapping released by the Government of Alberta reflects the latest understanding of a 1:100 (one per cent chance) flood risk based on the updated 1:100 flood inundation map released in 2020 and introduces a new mapping approach for the regulatory flood zones, including the new High Hazard Flood Fringe classification.

Provincially-led public engagement on their new mapping approach took place January 12 to February 12, 2024. 

The new provincial approach to mapping includes the new High Hazard Flood Fringe designation. The purpose of this new zone is to identify areas outside of the floodway where the flow during a 1:100 flood would be deeper (greater than 1 metre) and/or faster (greater than 1 metre/second) than the rest of the Flood Fringe. 

When the High Hazard Flood Fringe is both fast and deep, it is the second highest flood risk category after Floodway.  

When a High Hazard Flood Fringe Area is only deep (not fast) and, particularly, when it is surrounded by the Flood Fringe Hazard Area, the overall flood risk is lower. The City of Calgary is choosing to look carefully at this distinction within the High Hazard Flood Fringe, to ensure that updated regulations are in line with the flood risk.  

Historically, these areas would have been mapped as floodways, but because this designation is the most restrictive and has significant implications on developability, in established communities, the province has designated these areas as High Hazard Flood Fringe instead of Floodway. This allows municipalities more flexibility in how these areas are regulated, to continue to function as thriving communities. 

The feasibility study for the Bowness flood barrier was completed in April 2021. The results from the study showed a barrier would be effective at helping reduce damage that may be caused by overland flooding.  

The project would need to be built on private land, and we worked closely with the community throughout the studies. Through the engagement process, many community members wanted more details on the Government of Alberta’s plans for an upstream reservoir before progressing further with the barrier project. As a result, The City is not moving forward with further work related to a barrier at this time and has no project team or funding assigned. 

Without any community-level structural infrastructure (e.g. flood barrier) in place in Bowness, we must rely more heavily on both a future upstream reservoir and property-level measures where floodproofing and changes to permissible development and land use must play a more critical role in achieving greater flood resiliency. 

There is currently no assistance available to homeowners located within the flood hazard area who wish to relocate. The properties purchased by the province following the 2013 floods were floodway-specific. The City did not purchase any properties at that time. 

The City's 2017 Flood Mitigation Measures Assessment saw Council approve a primarily Protect in Place strategy. The Triple Bottom Line Assessment conducted as part of this work demonstrated that it would be more advantageous to protect communities than conduct significant buyouts and major land use redesignation. 

Additionally, we have heard clearly from engagement that our river valley communities have unique cultural, historical and economic significance, so intensive assessment of further buyout has not been a favored resilience tool. 

River floods can impact groundwater levels, sometimes outside of the flood fringe. The Groundwater Flood Fringe describes the area where development outside of the overland Flood Hazard Area is subject to increased groundwater flooding risk when river flow rates are high. Risk in the Groundwater Flood Fringe increases during floods or when rivers are subject to extended periods of higher flow rates (for example, through operations of an upstream reservoir after mitigating a flood).

The Groundwater Flood Fringe is different from general groundwater risk, which can occur throughout Calgary and is not always due to high water levels in the city’s rivers and creeks.

While Calgary’s overland flood risk has been significantly reduced, we know that river-related groundwater flooding remains a residual risk. We also know it is a driver of damages, as evidenced in the flood of 2013.

We’re proposing a new Groundwater Flood Fringe to Calgary’s Regulatory Flood Map to identify risk, improve awareness, establish appropriate mitigations and move Calgary’s flood resilience journey forward. 

The City conducted the Calgary River Valleys Groundwater Study. The study involved: 

• Mapping groundwater levels during flood events in river valley areas.  
• Estimating impact.
• Exploring options for resilience measures.
• Developing a new groundwater risk overlay zone for Calgary.

The study showed that during major floods (1 in 100-year events), groundwater levels rise and can impact areas beyond the current flood hazard areas, and that many buildings in Calgary, especially older ones in established communities, are vulnerable to river flood-related groundwater risks.

The Groundwater Flood Fringe shows the area where a 1:100 river flood could raise groundwater to within three metres of the surface. A depth of three metres was chosen because it is the area where groundwater is more likely to impact a conventional residential basement. 

The Calgary River Valleys Groundwater Study showed that during major floods (1 in 100-year events), groundwater levels rise and can impact areas beyond the current flood hazard areas, and that many buildings in Calgary, especially older ones in established communities, are vulnerable to river flood-related groundwater risks.

Groundwater flooding is different from overland flooding. It comes up from below the ground, so flood barriers and other protections designed to mitigate overland flooding do not provide the same level of protection.

The City has developed a draft online interactive version of Calgary’s proposed Regulatory Flood Map for the purposes of the current Calgary River Valleys Project engagement. 

You can see the extent of each area city-wide and zoom in to your property to determine which hazard area applies to you.

Buildings in the Groundwater Flood Fringe have been specifically identified in this hazard area as they are only at risk from groundwater flooding. However, buildings in all flood hazard areas can experience groundwater impacts during river floods.

The proposed regulations for all flood hazard areas meet or exceed the standards proposed for Groundwater Flood Fringe areas, helping keep people and property safe, regardless of what kind of flooding occurs during a high river event.

The draft regulations for the Groundwater Flood Fringe are tied to scale of development.

• For properties that aren’t changing, or for minor additions (10 per cent or less of the current footprint changes), these properties are not required to meet any regulatory requirements in the Groundwater Flood Fringe.
• For moderate additions (10 per cent to 75 per cent increase in footprint), minor floodproofing measures are proposed, including electrical isolation using a master shut-off switch above the Designated Groundwater Flood Elevation (DGWFE) and installation of a backflow prevention valve.
• For major additions (75 per cent increase in footprint) and new builds, the full floodproofing requirements would apply including: basements must be watertight up to the DGWFE; mechanical and electrical equipment installed above the DGWFE; installation of a sump pump and sewer backflow valve.

Calgarians can explore and provide feedback on the draft regulations for each of the proposed flood hazard areas as part of Stage 3 engagement.

Climate change is shifting precipitation patterns, increasing rainfall intensity and causing an earlier melting of the mountain snowpack. As a result, river flood hazards are increasing for the Bow and Elbow River watersheds. Updating our land use planning policy and regulations is a crucial action in Calgary’s Flood Resilience Plan and our Calgary Climate Strategy. 

Aligned with our Flood Resilience Plan, a multi-layered approach helps Calgary consider flood resilience amidst a changing climate. We’re planning for more extreme weather by setting higher standards for new communities and critical infrastructure; building in freeboards as climate buffers in our flood mitigation infrastructure; and establishing improved resilience measures in our building standards, including in groundwater flooding areas. These steps will help ensure Calgary stays resilient as our climate continues to change.  

The City is committed to enabling more housing while keeping people safe. As we look for ways to increase housing supply, we’re also planning for flood risk. In floodplain areas, we need to carefully consider the safety of people and property through appropriate land use and building regulations.

Basements, in particular, can be flooded by overland floodwater or high groundwater that enters the basement through cracks and drains.  

And adding more homes in high-risk areas also places more people and property at risk. That’s why we’re considering new rules for future development to reduce risk in the highest flood-risk areas.

As our city continues to grow and the information available about flood risk evolves, it is important that we continue to revisit our land use policies and building regulations in flood hazard areas to guide how we plan and develop in river communities to make them more resilient.

The Calgary River Valleys Project has been a key contributor to the City Building Program by:

• Incorporating updated river valley, creek and flood hazard policy in the Calgary Plan, available at engage.calgary.ca/citybuilding.
• Updating flood hazard regulations for both the Land Use Bylaw and future Zoning Bylaw.