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Bulletin 2026-21

Monitoring and Preparing for Overland Flooding

Release Date

In Alberta, flooding risk increases in May and June due to precipitation and snowmelt but can happen anytime from early spring to late fall. Flooding events can have a serious impact on industrial sites, affecting soils and damaging on-site structures and equipment and pipeline crossings within watercourses or water bodies. Approval holders should have procedures in place for monitoring flood advisories, storm forecasts, runoff, and snowmelt.

We remind approval holders of their responsibility to take appropriate precautions to ensure public safety and environmental protection by minimizing the potential operational impacts because of flooding hazards. Approval holders should be aware of the potential for site and equipment damage from flooding and be prepared to physically inspect and assess any sites and equipment that have or may potentially be affected. Under Directive 071: Emergency Preparedness and Response, approval holders must have a corporate emergency response plan and maintain it at a level of detail proportionate to its operations. The plan must also address hazards and potential consequences of the emergency scenarios that its operations pose to the public and the environment.

Please refer to the following information sources:

Information on hazard preparedness is available at https://www.alberta.ca/emergency-preparedness. If you have any questions, contact our Customer Contact Centre by phone at 403 297-8311 (1-855-297-8311 toll free) or by email at inquiries@aer.ca