Innovation-Nov-Dec-2023

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He said a combination of more rain and less snow cover in recent years has led to larger objects more frequently in the water, including full trees. Westmar was tasked with designing a structure that could withstand increasing barrages after a floating debris barrier built in 2006 was overwhelmed by logs, despite a redesign and refurbishment in 2011. Leonard said there is no road access to the small village, and the community is serviced by a small airstrip or boat. Using an alternate wharf facility located farther from the village is not possible for many community members. Rather than rebuild further away, the decision was made to build a robust wall to protect the wharf located on the north bank of the Waanukv River. After consultation with the community, Westmar and the project team designed, obtained environmental permitting, and constructed the barrier on a tight timeline and under challenging conditions. UPCOMING WEBINAR TO HELP DEVELOP LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Engineers and Geoscientists BC and Engineers Canada will hosting a free one hour webinar entitled Land Acknowledgments for Engineers and Geoscientists , scheduled for March 10, 2021. This session will explore the practice of acknowledging First Peoples and traditional land as a way to open meetings, and also as part of a larger process towards reconciliation between non-Indigenous and Indigenous Peoples in Canada. Cassandra Polyzou of Engineers Canada will facilitate a panel discussion with Indigenous engineers, geoscientists, and Indigenous knowledge-keepers, on the importance of this traditional protocol and its application to the engineering and geoscience professions. To learn more or to register, visit the event page at egbc.ca/Events , or email Allison Smith at asmith@egbc.ca . The Events Page includes upcoming webinars and on-demand offerings through the Online Learning Centre. To suggest future topics or speakers, email pdevents@egbc.ca .

The new barrier is almost 100 metres long and supported by steel pipe piles up to 23.5 meters long that were driven up to 12 meters into the riverbed. The barrier was designed to allow fish to swim under it. “Putting in a wall is not necessarily a natural solution—that’s something we continually struggle with; if we could make it work, we would much rather have a natural solution to use,” says Leonard. “But sometimes you’re dealing with a constrained site, or when you look at all the trade-offs, building a mound out of rocks is going to have a worse effect on the river than putting in a wall like that.” Limited information added further thought the riverbed materials would comprise. They were confident they wouldn’t encounter bedrock too shallow, but had a back-up plan and equipment at the ready, just in case. “From an engineering perspective, it was quite challenging. We had very minimal geotechnical information to go on. We had to use our best judgment and use our limited information to come up with a solution,” says Leonard. “The thing with these remote sites is that sometimes it’s more expensive to go and do investigative work than to have a back-up solution in your back pocket when you go to site.” The design had to be completed within about a month to adhere to funding deadlines and a narrow fisheries window. Once all the challenges were met, the community had a more durable and safer solution that also had low environmental impact. difficulty. Experts on the team assessed river levels, debris characteristics, and what they

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PROFESSIONAL GOVERNANCE ACT

edition of Innovation magazine ( egbc.ca/innovation ), and produced a short video about the PGA. To register for the upcoming webinars, watch previous PGA webinars, download the insert, or view the video, visit egbc.ca/pga .

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Daniel Leonard, P.Eng., is Vice President at Westmar, which led the restoration. Westmar won an ACEC British Columbia 2023 award of excellence in the natural resource and habitat category for the project, which was completed late 2022. Lauren Hutchinson, MSc, P.Eng., a senior geotechnical engineer at BGC, worked with the community of Lillooet on assessing risk and proposing solutions from debris flow. P hoto : contributed

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If you have questions about the new legislation, email

professionalgovernance@egbc.ca , or visit our website at egbc.ca/pga .

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