Erwin Braun starts by revisiting the Bow River flood of 1919. That flood, 94 years ago, was exactly the same flow that flooded Calgary in 2013. He makes the case these are natural, recurring events that we make better or worse by how we develop. Erwin Braun is General Manager of the Western Irrigation District (WID), east of the City of Calgary. The WID receives stormwater from the City of Calgary, hence irrigation and urban development requires collaboration. For the WID that includes a conversation with its upstream urban neighbours about the quantity and quality of stormwater. Erwin Braun points that past attention to stormwater management infrastructure mitigated the 2013 flood. He concludes by talking about water rights in southern Alberta and the irrigation districts' responsibility to urban society to collaborate with them.
Erwin Braun is General Manager of the Western Irrigation District, Strathmore, Alberta. His address was part of a panel discussion on Collaboration in Agriculture and Water at the Canadian Water Summit, Calgary, June 27, 2013.
